A senior SNP MP has spoken out against Nicola Sturgeon’s decision to back a second EU referendum.
Pete Wishart, who is the longest-serving Nationalist in Westminster, said it was a mistake to sign up to the People’s Vote without securing a guarantee that Scotland’s Remain wishes will not be over-ridden again.
The SNP leader effectively ordered her MPs to back Euroref2 by saying they will “undoubtedly vote for that proposition”.
Mr Wishart’s comments raise questions about whether the party’s 35 representatives in the Commons will follow Edinburgh’s command.
In a column for The National, the Perth and North Perthshire MP said: “I have big concerns about supporting a second Brexit vote and I am particularly anxious about supporting such a vote without any guarantees that our choice in Scotland will be respected next time round.
“In the last vote Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU only to be totally ignored, with our national view contemptuously dismissed.
“Every attempt to broker an outcome acknowledging how Scotland voted was rejected and any position to try and minimise the impact of Brexit in Remain-supporting Scotland binned before the ink was even dry.
“Now we are to offer unconditional support for another referendum which could produce the same result and conditions throughout the UK once again.”
Mr Wishart, who backed Remain and wants Brexit “reversed”, said the decision undermines the SNP’s independence bid, saying it is a gift to Unionists who refuse to accept a breakaway outcome.
“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,” he said.
“You can just imagine the Unionist chorus: ‘you were all for a second confirmatory vote on the EU but not one for independence.’”
Ms Sturgeon told the Andrew Marr Show at the beginning of this month: “We would not stand in the way of a second referendum, a so-called People’s Vote.
“SNP MPs would undoubtedly vote for that proposition.
“We would of course want to talk to people about how we ensure that Scotland does not end up in the same position all over again, where we voted to remain in the EU but find ourselves facing exit completely against our will.”
Ian Murray, the Labour MP for Edinburgh South, said he fears the SNP are now ducking out of supporting the second referendum.
“We are inching towards a parliamentary majority for a People’s Vote, so this raises questions about how Pete Wishart and other SNP MPs will vote in the Commons,” he said.
“Nicola Sturgeon repeatedly failed to back a People’s Vote, then added the condition of a second independence referendum, and now only backs it with that condition silently in the background.
“She must urgently distance herself from Pete Wishart’s comments and wholeheartedly back a People’s Vote.”
An SNP spokesman said: “We have made it clear that we would push strongly for any second EU referendum to have safeguards to ensure Scotland’s voice is protected in the event of Scotland voting remain again while the UK as a whole voted to leave.
“Scotland’s overwhelming vote to remain in 2016 – by far the most decisive vote of any of the UK nations – has been completely ignored, which underlines how Westminster completely fails to represent or protect Scotland’s vital national interests.”
Mr Wishart dropped out of this year’s race for deputy leadership of the party saying his comments about holding off on a second independence referendum did not go down well with the membership.
Ms Sturgeon pushed for Indyref2 in March last year, but backed down a few months later in the wake of the general election.
The First Minister has said she will update MSPs on her referendum plans when the terms of Brexit are clearer.