SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson today denied that any of his MPs are Eurosceptics, insisting it isn’t surprising all 54 hold the same view.
The Moray MP said he was unaware of any parliamentarian in the group with a different stance.
Asked if an SNP MP would be able to speak out in favour of a British exit without being disciplined, he highlighted his party’s policy which is to back the UK remaining in the EU.
He told the Press and Journal at a briefing in Westminster: “We are a political party that makes policy.
“What’s weird is that political parties in the rest of the UK have become so divided that they find it difficult to support their own policies.
“In the SNP we are content to support our own policy. Why? Because we make our decisions democratically and then we abide by them. That’s in the culture and the spirit of the SNP.
“Normal political parties make decisions, our members are the people who make those decisions and it is incumbent on us as elected parliamentarians to uphold the policy of our party that our members determine.
“Is that code for there’s an unseen group of people who are silently having to keep their Euroscepticism silent? I’m totally unaware of that existing anywhere.”
Asked if an SNP MP who came out for a Brexit would have to resign from the party, he replied: “It’s a theoretical question. There isn’t anyone. It’s not happening because nobody is.”
Mr Robertson said leaving the EU would make Europe less secure.
He added: “I believe the EU has been a force for peace and stability. It is logical therefore that if the EU were to cease to exist, to cease to bring countries together … that the risk of instability and conflict is enhanced, yes.
“I think we currently face instability of which the refugee crisis is an example and we must be focusing our attention on finding solutions to it rather than pursuing a course of action which is likely to be destabilising.
“Why would we even want to risk a chance that relations between us will worsen?”
He also criticised the notion the refugee crisis is an issue solely to be dealt with by neighbouring or geographically close countries, branding it “entirely wrong”.
The SNP MP went on: “I think it goes against the spirit of examples where the UK has been a leading light.
“We should not be looking away and we should not be walking on by.”
