As the new SNP MPs settle in to their new life in the House of Commons, a picture is doing the rounds on social media showing a Commons Chamber that is near-deserted, save the SNP benches, which are packed.
The caption from the BBC Parliament channel is ‘MPs are debating safety at HM Naval Base Clyde where the UK’s Trident nuclear deterrent is stationed’. The point that SNP supporters and some of the party’s MPs are making is that this shows that the party turns up to debates while other parties can’t be bothered.
It’s a powerful image, and it is not a fake. There is, of course, an explanation as to why the Chamber looks the way it does: this is an adjournment debate, held at the end of the day’s business, and has no vote which can bind the government.
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