ALEX Salmond’s party’s only two MPs have been kicked out the House of Commons after trying to launch a protest at Prime Minister's Questions over Scottish independence.
Alba’s Kenny MacAskill and Neale Hanvey were ordered by Speaker Lindsay Hoyle to leave the chamber after shouting at the Prime Minister to agree to a Scottish independence referendum to be held.
A furious Sir Lindsay named the MPs and ordered them to remove themselves after refusing to stop their demonstration.
The Speaker told the duo of MPs to "either shut up or get out" and appeared to not know their names.
Mr MacAskill could be heard trying to raise a point of order and appeared to say “we need a referendum" before he was drowned out by other MPs.
Mr MacAskill refused to sit down and continued to speak, prompting Sir Lindsay to act.
Mr Hanvey then rose to his feet and could not be heard over the heckling from Tory MPs, before he was subsequently told to leave the chamber.
The Speaker said: “I will not tolerate such behaviour. If you want to go out, go out now.
“If you stand again, I will order you out. Make your mind up.”
Mr MacAskill stood up again before Mr Hanvey also stood up and started speaking, but he could not be heard over the heckling from Tory MPs.
Sir Lindsay then named the pair, meaning they are suspended from the House.
He said: “Neale Hanvey, I’m now naming you and Kenny MacAskill to leave this chamber. Serjeant, deal with them.
“Out now, Serjeant-at-arms escort them out.”
The two Alba MPs have today penned a letter to Boris Johnson, labelling his refusal to accept a Section 30 order that would pave the way for a re-run of the 2014 referendum to take place as an “egregious afront to Scottish Democracy and to the people of Scotland”.
The joint letter adds: ”As the self-styled ‘minister for the Union’, you must recognise that this Union is a voluntary one, and was meant to be a union of equals, as such it can only be maintained by consent of the people of Scotland.
“You should be in no doubt that holding Scotland’s democracy hostage is something which the people of Scotland will not put up with.
“Scotland cannot, and will not, be held hostage within a Union completely detached from the needs, realities, and aspirations of her people. While one in three of our people live in fuel poverty, Scotland is energy rich with abundant resources far greater than our needs.
“For decades now, this wealth has contributed immeasurably to the energy security of these islands, yet the revenues have only served to feed the largesse of the UK Treasury. Meanwhile some of the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society face the prospect of freezing and going without food this winter.
“This indefensible failure of your government and its inability to meaningfully tackle the cost-of-living catastrophe, are feeding a groundswell of people in Scotland who demand another say on their constitutional future.
“We urge you once again to honour the Scottish Government’s extant mandate to hold a consented and legal Scottish Independence Referendum but put you and your successor on notice that the refusal to respect Scottish Democracy is not a defensible or sustainable position for the UK Government.
“The Scottish people and their elected representatives will continue to assert their democratic rights through popular demonstration and continuing Parliamentary initiatives. The question of Scottish sovereignty will not be denied and Scotland’s people will ultimately prevail.”
Speaking to STV afterwards, as the party’s general-secretary Chris McEleny applauded behind them, Mr MacAskill said: “Well, it’s a democratic outrage.
Two @AlbaParty MPs were kicked out of the chamber for protesting about Boris Johnson blocking another independence referendum just ahead of #pmqs
— kathryn samson (@STVKathryn) July 13, 2022
I caught up with Kenny MacAskill and Neale Hanvey straight after the Speaker booted them out... pic.twitter.com/PwDinFlfCw
“We have a mandate for a referendum in Scotland, this is a Prime Minister who is distorting parliamentary democracy, who is denying Scotland its legitimate right to a referendum and at the same time … Scotland is an energy-rich country and over half our people are going to be facing fuel poverty.
“It’s time Scotland had the right to determine its own future rather than having a future determined by a handful of Tory MPs and then by a handful of Tory members – none of whom have been elected in Scotland. And indeed no Tory prime minister has been elected in Scotland in my lifetime.”
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