Scotland will have 'meaningful vote' on EU membership, Alex Salmond tells MPs

Former First Minister Alex Salmond has accused the UK Government of offering "our way or the highway" on the Brexit negotiations.

SNP colleagues applauded as Mr Salmond said there would be "a meaningful vote" on Scotland's membership of the EU after his successor Nicola Sturgeon announced plans for a second Scottish independence referendum.

Speaking during debate on the Article 50 Bill in the Commons, Mr Salmond (Gordon) said Government promises over the single market had been "swept aside" in favour of pursuit of a hard Brexit

He said: "Their reaction to the Scottish Government's argument to keep us all within the single marketplace - not even regarded seriously, not even consulted before the Prime Minister dismissed that as an alternative.

"And then of course the compromise, let the Scotland stay within the single marketplace, even if this Government is determined to drag the rest of the UK out of it - not even given serious consideration over the last three months, no substantive reply because in their arrogance, this Government believes that the 48% across the UK, the members of the House of Lords, the people with doubts on their own backbenches, the nations in this country, two of which voted for remain in the referendum, that our view doesn't matter.

"It can be swept aside as we proceed headlong to the hard Brexit cliff edge."

Mr Salmond went on: "Well today in Scotland, perhaps the Government were disabused of that notion because there might not be a real vote, a meaningful vote in this chamber, but there shall be a meaningful vote in Scotland about protecting our millennium-long history as a European nation."