“Please do not waste this time.”

That was the advice from Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, after the European Union came to the UK’s aid and extended the Brexit deadline to this October.

Instead of taking that advice on board and taking steps to break the Brexit deadlock, the Tories are indulging in a petty and bitter leadership battle that is looking increasingly likely to deliver a Boris Johnson premiership.

It’s a lurch to the extremes in an attempt to pander to Nigel Farage.

That is a terrifying prospect and a nightmare we cannot risk.

The message from Brussels to ­Westminster may have fallen on deaf ears but the message from Westminster to Holyrood is clear – Scotland’s voice and interests are disposable.

As MPs return to Westminster this week, once again there will be no ­meaningful Parliamentary Brexit ­business or votes. Nothing to find an escape route from this Brexit madness.

Instead, we will be passengers in the next round of the toxic Tory leadership contest. Westminster has not just come to a standstill, it is fundamentally broken and not working for communities across the UK.

EU leaders may have their heads in their hands watching the Tory ­Government bury its head deeper in the sand but Scotland can still choose a different path.

There will be those who talk down Scotland, who are willing for ­Scotland to be dragged into the Brexit abyss. Rest assured that SNP MPs will fight tooth and nail to prevent that outcome.

While Scottish Tory MPs vote to keep the threat of a no-deal disaster on the table, SNP MPs will fight that tooth and nail.

While David Mundell – the ­Secretary of State for the defunct Scotland Office – displays his willingness to abandon any remaining principles at the door in order to hang on to his ministerial car and privileges by refusing to rule out serving in a possible Johnson ­government, SNP MPs will fight any hardline Tory prime minister willing to gamble with Scotland’s interests.

While Jeremy Corbyn and Labour continue to try to shamefully face both ways on Brexit in an attempt to deceive voters, SNP MPs will continue to ­highlight the danger leaving the EU will poses to our future opportunities.

Scotland must not be held hostage by a failed Labour opposition and a Tory Party consumed by chaos and occupied by careerists.

Scotland must have a choice over the direction of its future.

We must have the option of getting off at the next junction, if we choose to, and instead be in a ­position to shape a future that puts the interests of Scotland at the forefront of our policies.

The road to Brexit Britain is a road to economic and social harm. It’s a road that will cost jobs in Scotland, it will hit people’s pockets and will rip away ­opportunities from future generations.

Support for independence is on the rise and at public meetings and in constituencies across Scotland, the mood is changing. There is a better way.

It is becoming clearer with each day that passes that the only sure way to safeguard our interests and rights is through independence.

The Dungavel Immigration Detention Centre near Strathaven

Inhumane to lock up kids and pregnant women

The detention of pregnant women and children at Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre in Lanarkshire – essentially a prison in all but name – is nothing short of inhumane.

Locking children and pregnant women up is a stain on the record of the Tories and another example of their “hostile environment” – it’s one of the many reasons Scotland desperately needs full powers over immigration so it can build a system based on compassion and fairness instead of punishment and isolation.

The Tory Government made the commitment almost a decade ago to end the detention of children and, in 2016, introduced guidance to reduce the detention of vulnerable people.

Recent figures paint a different picture, showing 19 children and six pregnant women have been held at Dungavel since 2016 under the Tories’ watch. Sajid Javid, when appointed as Home Secretary more than a year ago, promised a fairer immigration system – detaining pregnant women and children is not just far from fair, it is reprehensible.

It is imperative that the Scottish Tories break their silence on this issue and pressure their Westminster bosses to do the right thing and urgently end this abhorrent detention. Their silence is deafening and their inaction is condemnable.

Ruth Davidson came to London last week to champion Javid as the next Tory prime minister.

Instead, she should have used that time and stood up for the women and children languishing in Dungavel and urged him to follow through on the commitment he made last year.

We support parents of sick babies

My SNP colleague David Linden MP made the case in the House of Commons on Wednesday for a change in the law to extend parental leave for the parents of premature and sick babies.

David Linden – whose two children were both premature – has campaigned tirelessly on the issue, raising it directly with Theresa May at Prime Minister’s Questions three times since last November and proposing a Bill last Wednesday after the Tories repeatedly refused to act.

About 60,000 babies are born prematurely every year in the UK, and each year 100,000 babies spend an extended period in neonatal care. If passed, the Bill will extend parental leave for parents of those babies who spend extended time in neonatal care.

Under current legislation, fathers get a maximum of two weeks paid parental leave and must use it within the first 56 days after their child is born. So many parents have to return to work while their newborns are still in incubators.

The Tory Government is seriously failing them.

The SNP Scottish Government has been clear that with the full powers of independence, parents of sick and premature babies would get the support they need.

Scottish Tories’ TV licence shame

Last week saw another broken Tory manifesto commitment when the out-of-touch UK Government axed free TV licences for over-75s.

The cut will leave a quarter of a million Scots poorer – yet the Scottish Tory Party have failed to lift even a finger in an effort to reverse it.

It is shameful that they continue to idly stand by while their Westminster colleagues hammer the living standards of our older people with cut after cut to pensions and benefits.