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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Rachael Burford

Scottish nationalist MPs kicked out of House of Commons chamber in rowdy start to PMQs

Two Scottish nationalist MPs were dramatically kicked out of Prime Minister Questions on Wednesday.

Alba MPs Neale Hanvey and Kenny MacAskill refused to stop shouting at Boris Johnson about a Scottish independence vote in the House of Commons chamber.

Mr MacAskill was heard screaming “we need a referendum in the Prime Minister” before he was drowned out by other MPs, while Mr Hanvey heckled the Tory benches.

Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle ordered the Sergeant at Arms to remove the pair when they ignored the repeated warning to keep quiet.

Later, when quizzed about another Scottish independence vote, Mr Johnson said there was a referendum in 2014 and will not be another one.

“We had a vote, they lost,” he said.

During the rowdy debate, which was one of Mr Johnson’s last as leader of the Conservative party, the Prime Minister branded Sir Keir Starmer “Captain Crasheroony Snoozefest”.

He added that any of the eight candidates who are currently standing for leader of the Conservative Party would “wipe the floor” with the Labour leader.

Sir Keir had asked the Prime Minister to scrap “the absurd” non-dom status that allows the super rich to dodge tax.

Mr Johnson replied that he was “focusing” on continuing the Government of the country and added “never mind non-dom, doms or non-doms, I don’t mind, £326 is arriving in the bank accounts of eight million vulnerable people”.

Sir Keir added: “Cut him some slack, faced with an uncertain future, a mortgage size decorators bill that will be soon for somebody else’s flat.... I’m not surprised he’s careful not to upset any future employers.

“So, here’s an even simpler one. Does he agree that offshore schemes can pose a risk because some people use them to avoid tax they owe here?”

Boris Johnson replied: “I’m proud of the investment that this country attracts from around the world. And he’s talking about people, offshore people, investing in the UK.”

“I think, if possible, he is referring not to me, but to some of the eight brilliant candidates who are currently vying for my job. Let me just tell him that any one of them would wipe the floor with Captain Crasheroony Snoozefest.

“And after a few weeks’ time, that is exactly what they will do. They will unite around the winner and they will do just that.”

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