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DERMOT MURNAGHAN: So when Parliament resumes next week it will be a strikingly different one, the Lib Dems have been replaced by the Scottish National Party as the third biggest party in the House of Commons with 56 MPs there.  Just this morning the Unite union leader Len McClusky said that most of his members voted for the SNP and that Nicola Sturgeon’s message has struck a chord.  Well Angus Robertson is the SNPs leader in Westminster and joins me now from Moray and a very good morning to you Mr Robertson.  I suppose you’ll be delighted hearing that from Len McClusky, do you think this presages much closer links between the Scottish National Party and the unions, formal links?

ANGUS ROBERTSON:   Well a very good morning from a sunny Speyside.  Yes, politics has changed significantly in Scotland, the SNP is now the leading party at Westminster as we already have become in the Scottish parliament and in European parliament and local government and our membership in Scotland is more than all of the UK parties added together so we are in a very strong position and I have no doubt that the majority of trade unionists voted for the SNP in the recent elections just as many other groups of society because the SNP was pledged to stand up for Scotland’s interests, for progressive politics against the austerity agenda of all three UK political parties and that chimed with many people, not just trade unionists but voters of all backgrounds and that’s one of the reasons why the SNP did so amazingly, literally breaking all previous records, in our history our best ever result was 11 seats and 30% of vote and we achieved essentially 50% of the vote and 56 out of 59 seats so it really was a remarkable results and I think it’s down to the fact that we chimed with the views of a very, very large and broad swath of public opinion in Scotland.  

DM: Let’s talk about those numbers and hearing from you that you are going to be the real opposition in Westminster.  Okay, you may have nine times or so more seats than you had but it is still only 56 and it is all about numbers so how are you going to be the real opposition then as you term it?

ANGUS ROBERTSON:  Well it’s not all about numbers but numbers are important, as you’ve pointed out the SNP are now the third party in the House of Commons so every week I’ll get the opportunity to ask the Prime Minister two questions.  We will have early billing on all major debates and statements, we will have seats on all committees so we’ll be able to have our voice heard and in this respect I think the SNP can be the effective opposition to the Tories. The Labour party are now, as we’ve heard in your reports this morning, essentially turning in on themselves.  They are introspective, they are looking at whether they should move more to the left, more to the right and in many respects are actually tearing themselves apart.  Meanwhile the Tories are planning on introducing £12 billion worth of welfare cuts and as we know from their track record, that’s going to hit the poorest in society hardest.  Rather than leaving those people which is what the Labour party has done and certainly will be doing during their leadership debate and trying to come back to electoral relevance, it’s the SNP that’s going to be standing up for the issues that matter to so many people, not just in Scotland incidentally because these austerity cuts are going to bite very hard in England and Wales and Northern Ireland too and the SNP will stand up for progressive politics at Westminster whilst the Labour party is talking about itself.  

DM: So that warning that the Conservatives were making before the election, could actually be coming true, you are offering the effective opposition and you could actually be the SNP tail wagging the Labour dog.  

ANGUS ROBERTSON:   Well who can predict what the Labour party is going to do?  I mean they really are sliding into total irrelevance in Scotland, they have only one seat, that’s the same as the Conservative party and the Liberal Democrats.  I think in politics we need vibrant political parties right across the political spectrum so in that ecumenical sense I wish the Labour party well in working out what they’re going to do.  Meanwhile the SNP is going to get on with the job at hand which is what we were elected to do.  We were elected to go to Westminster, to stand up for Scottish interests, for everybody who lives here but also reflect progressive politics so we will be countering the austerity agenda of the Conservatives, incidentally something that was voted for by the Labour party earlier this year at Westminster and we also want to make sure that Scotland has the appropriate powers to be able to deal with the social challenges that we have in helping our economy grow and we have a very big decision coming up in this parliament as to whether we want to waste £100 billion renewing Trident nuclear weapons which we are resolutely opposed to.  So on all these issues we will provide the effective opposition.  How the Labour party will react is frankly up to the Labour party but they haven’t shown themselves to be particularly effective for a long time and now they are just debating their own future.

DM: Okay, let’s ask you a specific question here, you of course used to be an SNP Member of Parliament in previous delegations that abstained on so many issues that you deemed to be affecting England and Wales only and not of Scottish interest or relevance.  We’re told that’s going to change, let me put this  you – a free vote coming up on fox hunting, of course a devolved issue, Scotland gets to decide what happens in that issue, is this something SNP MPs are going to vote on?  It’s about England and Wales, whether the ban should continue, be changed or extended.  Are you going to vote on that?

ANGUS ROBERTSON:  You’d be right to point out that the SNP has of course opposed fox hunting and it’s with SNP votes that now no longer continues in Scotland.  It is now mooted that this issue is going to be brought up for the rest of the United Kingdom and can I take the opportunity to thank all of the campaigners who have been getting in touch, there’s a massive lobbying operation going to try and ensure that the ban is not repealed in the rest of the UK.  SNP MPs still have to consider the legislation which of course we haven’t seen so we need to see it but of course we will be looking at that closely.  You do of course understand that the UK government imposes its will in Scotland without any significant legitimacy whatsoever so we are having legislation foisted on Scotland with only one MP so we have to look at all of the issues coming forward in this new parliament, following the independence referendum on its merits and we will be doing that when we see the legislation that is proposed by the government but I reiterate what I said, the votes of the SNP was that fox hunting was banned …

DM: It’s quite clear on fox hunting that Scotland can already make its own decision and has done about the future of fox hunting in Scotland.  This about England and Wales, it’s a simple question, what will SNP MPs do?

ANGUS ROBERTSON:  I’m sorry, have you seen the legislation?  

DM: I haven’t read it through myself yet, no.  

ANGUS ROBERTSON:  No, neither have I so forgive me if I reserve my position so I can look at the legislation together with my colleagues in the Westminster SNP group.  As I said at the start, we have opposed fox hunting in Scotland, we need to look at everything that is brought forward before parliament and look at it on its merits but I also underline the point that I made just a few moments ago.  The UK government is imposing its will on Scotland with only one MP,  it doesn’t even have enough elected government ministers so they are appointing placemen to the House of Lords to govern Scotland by fiat and we have to look at all of our opportunities we have to exercise our voice and our vote at Westminster and we’ll be doing it on the basis of seeing the proposals that are actually made and then making up our mind.  

DM: I think we fully understand that Mr Robinson, given that you and I have not seen the proposals.  I think we can be pretty sure on fox hunting that it is not going to say anything about Scotland because it’s a devolved power which you’ve just said and we have discussed a couple of times, that Scotland can make its own decisions about that.  What about England and Wales then, when it revisits the issue, making its own decisions without Scottish MPs voting on it?  
ANGUS ROBERTSON:   Sure, I understand what you’re saying but it is no surprise the SNP is in favour of Scottish independence.  I would wish that Scotland were able to make all decisions for itself but it can’t and the electorate of Scotland determined that Scotland should remain within the UK, part of the family of nations where we were told our voice mattered and our input mattered.  We will look at every single proposal that is brought forward on its merits, there are a lot of people who care passionately about this issue and I understand why many of them have been getting in touch in recent days and I’d like to assure them through Sky Television that we will be looking at the case they are making very, very closely and we will do that on the basis of the legislation when it’s proposed.

DM: Okay Mr Robertson, good to talk to you, Angus Robertson there thank you very much indeed.