Scotland’s first minister and leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party has said her MPs would support a second EU referendum in a Commons vote. However, Nicola Sturgeon also suggested her party would seek a guarantee that if Scotland voted again to remain in the EU in contrast to the rest of the UK, it would not be forced to accept the result.
Sturgeon, who was addressing her party’s autumn conference in Glasgow, explained that she could not envisage SNP MPs voting for any Brexit deal that did not include membership of the single market and customs union.
As reported by The Guardian, SNP’s 35 MPs could play a crucial role in any knife-edge vote on the Brexit deal or a second referendum.
“We would not stand in the way of a second referendum, a so-called people’s vote. SNP MPs would undoubtedly vote for that proposition,” Sturgeon told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show.
“We would of course want to talk to people about how we ensure that Scotland does not end up in the same position all over again, where we voted to remain in the EU but find ourselves facing exit completely against our will.”
In a separate report, the Reuters news agency noted that Sturgeon is under increasing pressure to explain how Scotland might win independence from the United Kingdom as the clock ticks down on Brexit and her term as first minister.
“The UK cannot find itself where it faces a bad outcome or a worse outcome. There has to space for common sense and calm consideration,” Sturgeon said.
Support for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom would rise to 50% from 45%, if and when Britain leaves the European Union, a Survation poll showed on October 7.
However, the UK government, which has to approve any independence vote, considers the independence issue settled by a 2014 vote in which Scotland voted to keep the more than 300-year political union intact.
