Labour today launched a stinging attack on the 6 SNP MPs after they last night voted with the Tories and Lib Dems on a Labour move to kill off the Bill to gerrymander Scottish constituencies and hold an AV referendum on the same say as the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections.
 
The Political Voting System and Constituencies Bill combines plans for a referendum on AV on the same day as the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections with plans to cut Scottish MPs in a manner which disproportionately affects Scottish urban areas.
 
Labour laid down an amendment in the name of the Leader of the Opposition, Harriet Harman, which declined to give the Bill a second reading – parliamentary procedure which would have defeated the government and killed off the Bill. The SNP voted with the Coalition Government to stop the amendment being passed.
 
Labour MP and Shadow Scotland Office Minister Ann McKechin said:
 
"The SNP are back to their old ways of voting with the Tories.
 
"In the last Parliament they were punished for back the Tories on 2 out of 3 votes and it seems they have learnt nothing.
 
"Labour’s amendment would have stopped this disgraceful Bill which seeks to penalise Scotland’s great cities and take away the ancient right of local people to have say on what constituency they live in.
 
"If this amendment was passed, the voting referendum planned for the same day as the Scottish Parliament elections would not go ahead because the Bill would fall.
 
"They didn’t even abstain on Labour's amendment – they actually walked through the division lobbies with the Tories.
 
"The SNP gave the Tories the green light to press ahead with a Bill which hammers Scotland and will overshadow the next Scottish elections."

7 September 2010