WATCH: Nicola Sturgeon: SNP MPs would back second Brexit referendum in Commons
2 min read
SNP MPs would vote for a second referendum on Brexit if the issue came before the House of Commons, Nicola Sturgeon confirmed today.
The Scottish First Minister said she “would expect” her parliamentarians to back a fresh vote - but insisted getting out of Brexit was not the “fundamental solution” for Scotland.
Ms Sturgeon also said SNP MPs would not back a Brexit deal that did not include remaining in the EU single market - and she said she would lay out her plans for independence in the coming months.
On the eve of the SNP conference in Glasgow, polling suggested almost 80% of party supporters want MPs to throw their weight behind a new referendum on the final deal Theresa May strikes with Brussels.
Those supporters were given a boost today when Ms Sturgeon told the BBC Andrew Marr show her MPs would indeed back calls for another Brexit vote.
“I would expect the SNP MPs to vote for that if that comes to a vote in the House of Commons,” she declared.
But she argued the “real solution” for Scotland would be quitting the UK rather than blocking Brexit.
On the kind of Brexit deal SNP MPs could back, she said: “I’ve always said our bottom line is membership of the Single Market and the Customs Union.
“I cannot envisage the SNP MPs voting for something that doesn't contain that.”
She added that Brexit would make Scottish independence “inevitable” - and she said she would lay out her secession plans when the PM finishes the next stage of negotiations, possibly as early as this month.
A spokesperson for the People’s Vote campaign said the SNP leader was “showing she is a political leaders who listens to her voters”.
Scotland voted by 62% to stay in the EU at the 2016 referendum.
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