SCOTS BACK SECOND EU REFERENDUM AND PREFER INDEPEDENCE TO BREXIT

NEWLANDS WARNS THAT LABOUR WILL “PAY THE PRICE IN SCOTLAND” IF THEY AGREE TO TORY BREXIT

Recent polls reveal that support for a second EU referendum is strong in Scotland and that over half of Scots prefer independence to Brexit.

A poll commissioned by campaign group Right to Vote found that two-thirds of Scottish voters want a final say on the Brexit deal and a polling for the Sunday Times revealed that 53% of Scots prefer independence to Brexit, with 59% backing it over a no-deal Brexit. With a few days to go until the UK is due to leave the EU, Theresa May is holding talks with Jeremy Corbyn in a bid to strike a Brexit deal.

Gavin Newlands, SNP MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, warns Labour not to be the “midwife to a Tory Brexit” that ends free movement of people, or they will “pay the price in Scotland at the ballot boxes.”

The survey results also come as Scottish Secretary David Mundell backs the SNP’s calls for a long extension to article 50 to find a way through the Brexit impasse and avoid the “chaos and disruption” of no-deal.

Despite abstaining on key votes that would take no deal out of the equation, Mundell warned his Tory Cabinet colleagues that a no-deal Brexit would be “bad economically for Scotland in the short, medium and long term” and “have a disproportionately detrimental effect on the country”.

Commenting, Newlands said:

“Over two-thirds of Scottish voters want a final say on the Brexit deal and the majority of Scots prefer independence to any Brexit.

“Leaving the European Union without a deal would be a disaster for Scotland and would cost hundreds of thousands of jobs- plunging our country into recession. We have warned the UK about this from the beginning.

“It seems that Theresa May is pushing Jeremy Corbyn to accept a Brexit deal that ends free movement of people, which is absolutely essential for the Scottish economy to grow.

“I urge Labour to be careful – if they act as the midwife to a Tory Brexit they will pay the price in Scotland at the ballot boxes.

“The SNP is the only party that can be trusted to stand up for Scotland.”