Possible Scottish Independence Vote Set to Fail as Backed Only by Government

Edinburgh's idea of a repeat independence vote, linked to the United Kingdom’s loss of access to the European Single Market, is likely to fail since it is only backed by the devolved government and is not getting necessary support from the Scots, the UK Christian Peoples Alliance party told Sputnik on Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Wednesday, Scotland’s largest party, Scottish National Party (SNP), said Edinburgh would defend its legitimate position within the European single market, stressing the second Scottish independence referendum could take place as early as autumn 2018, amid UK government "Hard Brexit" plans, which include withdrawal from the EU single market.

"Scotland is playing a game. They say if they are not allowed to stay in the single market then they will have another referendum on independence but the polls are against them. They know they can't win an independence referendum," Sidney Cordle, the party’s leader, said.

The latest opinion poll conducted by Herald/BMG revealed that 55 percent opposed the idea of holding a referendum on Scottish independence, while 34 percent backed this initiative.

"The current Scot Nats leadership has dug a big hole for itself and really now has nowhere to go," Cordle said.

In an interview with the RT broadcaster published Wednesday, Scottish National Party’s (SNP) foreign affairs spokesman Alex Salmond said that Scotland intended to defend its stance concerning the issue of remaining within the European single market, while also maintaining political and monetary ties with the United Kingdom. Salmond noted that this would require not only imagination and flexibility, but also sensitivity to Scotland’s interests.