SNP calls for new Brexit and Scottish independence votes

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has opened the door to two new referendums - on Brexit and Scottish independence - saying the “developing disaster” of UK-EU negotiations is changing the political landscape.

Speaking as the second day of the Scottish National Party (SNP) conference opened in Glasgow, Sturgeon said she would “make the case” for a Scottish independence vote, possibly as early as next year, and floated the possibility of a second Brexit referendum.

“Increasingly, the UK right now is engulfed in chaos. We are seeing a developing disaster, in my view, with the Brexit negotiations,” Sturgeon told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland. “And the case for Scotland taking control of our future… in my view, gets stronger by the day.”

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Sturgeon said it was up to the SNP to “build that case” for independence, even though a 2014 vote was lost by a margin of 55% to 45% - and despite the SNP losing a third of its seats in the general election this June.

Although a second Brexit referendum isn’t SNP policy, Sturgeon said she was increasingly receptive to the idea and that the temptation may become “too difficult to resist” over time.

“The consequences are so dire that people may have the right to look at the outcome,” she insisted, during an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

The Liberal Democrats are actively demanding a second Brexit vote and Labour - although not backing the idea - has been “careful not to rule it out”, The Guardian says.

The Sun reports that “many fear that a fresh vote on the terms of our exit would allow last year’s historic vote to be overturned and for us [the UK] to be kept in the EU”.

Asked for her views on Catalonia’s independence referendum and possible succession from Spain, Sturgeon said yesterday that Catalans “weren’t left with any choice” but to hold an independence referendum, and that the EU had let Catalans down by failing to condemn the “grotesque and unacceptable” violence of Spanish police during last week’s ballot.

She declined to say if Scotland would recognise the result of the election in favour of an independent Catalonia.

“Although many SNP supporters support the Catalan Yes movement, Ms Sturgeon knows that accepting the result would antagonise the EU countries she wants on side during the Brexit process and may need in future if Scotland voted for independence,” says Scotland’s Sunday Herald.