Former minister warns Sturgeon against being overly pro-EU

A new independence campaign could haemorrhage votes in the north-east if it is enthusiastically pro-EU, one of Nicola Sturgeon’s former ministers has claimed.

Alex Neil, who succeeded the First Minister and health secretary and served in her first Cabinet as social justice secretary, warned against holding a second referendum before it is clear what the Brexit deal will look like.

The SNP MSP, who voted Leave in the EU referendum, said Prime Minister Theresa May had created the circumstances for a second vote on Scotland’s future with a “provocative” speech at the Scottish Conservative conference but urged Ms Sturgeon not to commit to Brussels membership.

Mr Neil said: “Are we seriously going to tell the fishermen of Scotland that, having come out of the Common Fisheries Policy, we are going to go straight back into it? That would not be a vote winner in the north-east.”

The Common Fisheries Policy sets quotas for which EU member states are allowed to catch each type of fish.

That view appeared to be backed by Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, who said: “Any constitutional arrangement under which we would continue to be bound by the CFP would be unacceptable to the industry.”

Meanwhile, Jim Sillars, the pro-Brexit former deputy leader of the SNP, said a referendum should be held at 2020 “at the earliest” to decouple the vote from leaving the EU, which 400,000 Yes voters in Scotland supported.

“This is a nonsense because she will be having a referendum before people know what the Brexit deal is,” he said.

“We won’t have the final detail about Brexit until at least 2020, so what will the question be? Will it be to break away from the UK and then to join the EU? If it is then I won’t be voting for that.”

That would not be a vote winner in the north east. ALEX NEIL