Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, called on Scotland to move forward “in a spirit of unity and national purpose” as she condemned the leadership vacuum in Westminster.
In her first statement to the Holyrood parliament since last week’s EU referendum result Sturgeon called on the UK government to “get a grip”.
“These are times that call for principles, purpose and clarity – in short, for leadership. That is why the vacuum that has developed at Westminster is so unacceptable,” she told the Holyrood chamber.
Speaking in advance of an emergency debate in which she urged MSPs to back her efforts to protect Scotland’s place in Europe, Sturgeon warned: “One thing is clear: there cannot be three months of drift while both the government and main opposition parties at Westminster immerse themselves in internal elections. That would compound the difficult situation we are already facing and risk even more damage to our economy.”
The SNP leader went on: “We have heard that – almost incredibly – there was no plan for this outcome. It is my view that the UK government must now get a grip on this: first, to restore stability and confidence, then, to set out its plan for the way forward. It must involve the Scottish government in that work at every step of the way.”
Underlining her determination to protect Scotland’s relationship with the EU, Sturgeon confirmed that she would travel to Brussels on Wednesday to meet representatives of the main groups in the European parliament and its president, Martin Schulz. The first minister has yet to secure a meeting with the president of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker.
Schulz said he would welcome and listen to the first minister. Asked whether Scotland could hope for either continued EU membership or special status, he said: “It is absolutely a domestic issue for the UK. Everything that concerns the internal debate has to happen within the framework of institutions within the UK.”
It also emerged on Tuesday afternoon that the president of the European council, Donald Tusk, had turned down an invitation to meet Sturgeon. Tusk’s spokesperson said: “Given the situation in the UK he feels it is not appropriate, but he is grateful for the invitation.” However, a spokesperson for Sturgeon insisted that she had not expected to see Tusk - who is chairing a crisis meeting of EU leaders on Wednesday - on such a busy day, but that she would be meeting “a range of very senior players in the days and weeks ahead”.
In Brussels, SNP MEP Alyn Smith received a standing ovation at the European parliament when he reminded his fellow MEPs that Scotland had voted to remain and also pleaded with parliamentarians from around Europe: “Do not let Scotland down.”
Smith said: “I want my country to be internationalist, co-operative, ecological, fair, European – and the people of Scotland, along with the people of Northern Ireland and the people of London and lots and lots of people in Wales and England, also voted to Remain within our family of nations. I demand that that status and that esprit European be respected.
“Colleagues, there are a lot of things to be negotiated and we will need cool heads and warm hearts, but please remember this: Scotland did not let you down. Please, I beg you, cher colleagues, do not let Scotland down now.”
Sturgeon also talked about her recent discussions with business representatives, stressing her intention to secure access to the single market for Scotland. She noted that, if the country does find a way to maintain its relationship with the EU while the rest of the UK does not, “then [it] will become an even more attractive place to do business”.
At the beginning of a debate during which all party leaders offered reassurance to people from other countries who have chosen to make Scotland their home, Sturgeon urged the parliament to “make clear that Scotland is an open and welcoming country and that prejudice, hate and racism will not be tolerated, now or at any time”.
She acknowledged that not every voter in Scotland had supported the remain campaign, promising that “I am committed to listening, to understanding and seeking to address the concerns they have”.
On the question of independence, Sturgeon told the chamber that if the Scottish government does conclude that the best or only way to protect Scotland’s place in the EU is through a referendum on independence, then she would return to Holyrood and ask the chamber to vote on it.
A motion followed her statement which sought cross-party support for discussions with the UK government, other devolved administrations, EU institutions and member states to try to secure Scotland’s relationship with the EU and its place in the single market. About this she insisted: “A vote for this motion is not a vote for a referendum on independence.”
While Labour, the Scottish Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Greens have pledged to back this motion, the Scottish Conservatives will not support it.
Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, put forward an amendment for deleting the mandate for Sturgeon to have discussions with EU institutions and member states. She added a clause stating that 1.6m votes for remaining in the EU did not overturn the 2m votes of 2014 rejecting Scotland being an independent country – and they did not “in themselves demonstrate demand for a second independence vote”.
Responding to Davidson’s amendment, Sturgeon said: “It would be ironic – and deeply regrettable – if the party that has put us into this unfortunate position ended up today as the only one standing in the way of our efforts to resolve it.”
Davidson responded: “You do not dampen the shockwaves caused by one referendum by lighting the fuse for another.”
She added: “The lesson [of the referendum] was not a simple them and us: not when a million of our countrymen voted to leave to.”
But Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, with her voice expressing rage, accused Davidson’s party of “putting the future of the UK in danger at every turn”.
Dugdale told the Tory leader: “I struggle to put into words the anger I feel towards her party at the moment. An anger that’s been building since David Cameron announced English votes for English laws within minutes of the Scottish independence referendum result.
“An anger that grew when her party set Scottish voters against English voters in a hugely divisive and disingenuous 2015 campaign. Anger at a party that forced this EU referendum on a country that did not want it, only to resolve an ego contest in the Tory party ... And a Tory campaign in last month’s election that told the nation that all that mattered was whether you were a unionist or a nationalist.”
Dugdale added: “The Tories have put the future of the UK in danger at every turn and it’s high time they shouldered responsibility for that.”