++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY BLACK FRAMES++
POOL
Edinburgh - 24 January 2017
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's First Minister:
"Well I welcome the Supreme Court ruling that an act of parliament is required in the House of Commons before the triggering of Article 50. I think that ruling is an indictment of a UK government that thought it could press ahead without any reference to Parliament whatsoever. So it's now vital that parliament gets the chance to debate and decide upon, not just the triggering of Article 50 but I think the terms of the negotiating position as well, and SNP MPs will seek to work with others to stop a hard Brexit in its tracks."
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2. SOUNDBITE (English) Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's First Minister:
"Scotland voted against Brexit and therefore I think it is inconceivable that SNP MPs would vote for the triggering of Article 50. But I think it's important that the House of Commons and parliament is involved not just in that narrow question whether to trigger Article 50 but also the terms of the negotiations. The Prime Minister set it last week, a path towards the hardest of hard Brexits. I don't believe there's a majority for that in the House of Commons and I certainly don't believe there's majority for that across the country so this is an opportunity for the House of Commons to assert itself and to have a say not just on the narrow question but on the broader terms of negotiations as well."
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3. SOUNDBITE (English) Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's First Minister:
"I am disappointed at the Supreme Court ruling about the rule of the devolved administrations and I think it raises a really important question for the UK government after the Smith Commission following the independence referendum. They were at great pains to see that the Sewel Convention was to be embedded in legislation and therefore that it was taking on a more important role in the devolved arrangements. Now, what was the point of embedding it in legislation if it's not legally enforceable? I think that commitment from the UK government today has been shown to be not worth the paper it's written on. That said the court is very clear, that Brexit will touch upon the devolved competencies of the devolved administrations and recognises the importance of Sewel as a political convention. So I think that there's still a political obligation for the UK government to listen to the devolved administrations, we will certainly bring forward a legislative consent motion because I think it's important that the Scottish Parliament has the right to vote on whether or not it is prepared to consent the triggering or not of Article 50."
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4. SOUNDBITE (English) Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's First Minister:
"But there's nothing in the Supreme Court's ruling that's says that Sewel Convention should be ignored completely as a political convention. Clearly Brexit impinges upon the devolved competencies, not just of the Scottish parliament but the Welsh Assembly and the Northern Irish Assembly, as well. And I think it's a matter of democratic principle that the Scottish parliament on such a big fundamental issue with so many implications for the devolved settlements should have a say on whether or not it consents to the triggering of Article 50. So we will bring forward a motion that allows the Scottish Parliament to do that and I will then hope that the UK government would pay attention to it."
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5. SOUNDBITE (English) Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's First Minister:
"I have made very clear that that option is very very much on the table and as I have said before with every day that passes right now it's becoming clearer that Scotland's voice cannot and is not able to be heard within the UK on this question. That raises big issues. I have set down a path of process of exhausting and exploring all options. I will continue to do that but be in no doubt that I think the decision is looming for Scotland. Are we prepared to allow our future to be dictated by a Westminster government that's gone down a path I think the majority of people in Scotland do not want to go down or are we going to take our futures in our own hands?"
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