Pete Wishart
A senior member of the Scottish National Party has questioned his party's backing for a second vote on European Union membership, arguing that it could undermine its Scottish independence goal.
In a rare public sign of dissent Pete Wishart, an SNP lawmaker in Britain's national parliament, said in a newspaper column that supporting a second "confirmatory" referendum could undercut the SNP's goal of secession from the United Kingdom by inviting comparison.
Infighting in Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives is complicating her efforts to reach a deal in time for Brexit day on March 2019. The SNP, Scotland's biggest party, said this month it would back a second referendum on the issue -- although Scotland already voted to keep its EU membership in 2016.
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Up to now the SNP had been one of the most unified parties on Brexit, supporting Britain's continued membership of the single market and customs union.
"There is now a view amongst the politicians leading the "People's Vote" (second EU referendum) campaign that all big constitutional referendums should now have a "confirmatory" second vote," Wishart wrote in Scottish newspaper The National.
"By enthusiastically buying into this 'confirmatory' vote for an EU referendum we weaken our hand in resisting unionist calls for a second vote on a successful indyref (independence referendum)."
In the UK's 2016 referendum on EU membership, a majority of voters in Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain in the bloc, while England - by far the most populous of the home nations - and Wales voted to leave.
May has consistently ruled out the idea of a second Brexit referendum while Labour, whose ranks are also divided, has dithered over the issue.