Our EU stance is independence ploy, says MSP
NICOLA Sturgeon is trying to use Brexit to progress her case for independence, a Nationalist MSP has admitted.
The SNP leader has warned that Scotland risks being ‘driven off a Brexit cliff edge’ and that leaving the EU could cost the country’s economy up to £11.2billion a year.
Miss Sturgeon has published a draft Scottish referendum Bill, held a three-month pro-independence drive and declared that a rerun of the 2014 vote is ‘highly likely’ in the wake of the UK vote to leave the EU.
She is expected to publish her demands for a post-Brexit deal for Scotland within days.
One of her MSPs told the Mail: ‘We’re deliberately taking advantage of leaving the EU to progress the case for independence.’
The politician indicated that many in the party are not avidly pro-Europe. Recent polls indicate that more than a third of SNP supporters voted Leave in the June referendum.
Despite its apparent outrage at the result of the EU vote, the SNP spent only £90,000 campaigning – equivalent to the outlay in some local by-elections.
Last month, ex-SNP Cabinet member Alex Neil revealed that he voted Leave – and claimed ‘a number’ of other Nationalist MSPs did the same.
Former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars also claimed that up to six of the party’s MSPs planned to vote Leave.
Scottish Tory chief whip John Lamont said: ‘This shows that when Nicola Sturgeon says she wants the best deal for Scotland and the UK, it’s absolutely not the case.
‘It has been clear for some time that the Nationalists will only do something if they think it will forward their separation aims. Now everything they say about Brexit will, at best, have to be taken with a pinch of salt.’
At Holyrood yesterday, Rural Affairs Minister Fergus Ewing appeared to acknowledge that leaving the EU could bring some benefits to Scotland.
He said: ‘I acknowledge that many in the fishing industry voted to leave the EU and I understand why that is the case.
‘The Common Fisheries Policy has not been a success for Scottish fisheries and I recognise that there are opportunities outside of the EU for our industry.
‘I fully intend to press the UK Government to ensure that we make the most of these.’
Asked at the Scottish Affairs Committee at Westminster yesterday if a second independence referendum was highly likely, Michael Russell, the Scottish Government’s minister for Brexit negotiations, replied: ‘Yes.’
He also attended a meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee in London, where he is understood to have made clear that access to the Single Market and powers over immigration are the Scottish Government’s leading demands.
Responding to the claim that Miss Sturgeon is using Brexit to boost the case for independence, a Scottish Government source said: ‘We are doing all we can to protect Scotland from a hard Tory Brexit which threatens jobs and livelihoods, after [Scottish Tory leader] Ruth Davidson sold out on her support for our place in the single market, and that includes the option of independence if it becomes clear it is the best or only way of safeguarding our national interests.’