Indyref2: SNP "delighted" with Brexit claims Farron

The SNP was "delighted" about the Brexit vote because it has allowed the party to revive its campaign for Scottish independence, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has said.

Tim Farron was campaigning in Edinburgh today

He also accused Nicola Sturgeon of undermining any prospect of reversing the Brexit vote through a referendum on the "exit deal" which the Lib Dems have been pushing for.

Mr Farron was campaigning in Scotland today ahead of next months' council elections and joined party council candidates and MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton in the city’s Stockbridge area to talk to residents and local businesses.

The First Minister has requested the transfer of power from Westminster to allow a second referendum to be held after it was voted for by the Scottish Parliament last month in the aftermath of the UK's decision to leave the EU, but this has been rejected by Ms May.

The Lib Dem leader today backed Mrs May stance that now is the wrong time for another vote on Scotland leaving the UK and accused of using Brexit.

"This is about the Scottish National Party taking advantage of a chaos that is enveloping Scotland and the whole of the United Kingdom which is the consequence of the Conservative Government's choices," he said.

Referring to the 2014 referendum result, he said: "We need to respect the will of the people of Scotland which was very clear 55%-45% on the basis of a prospectus that, to be fair to the SNP, was very clear.

"It wasn't like the lie on the side of the bus that we dealt with in regard to Brexit it, was actually a very clear prospectus. It was rejected.

"And it's very clear to me that the SNP were delighted by the outcome of the Brexit referendum because it gave them an opportunity to have another go at the thing that they're most obsessed about and I don't think we should do anything to encourage that."

Mr Farron said the SNP no longer had a mandate for another referendum after losing its Holyrood majority last year.

He added: "My sense, though, is that this is not the time for another referendum. If you believe passionately that Scotland should be independent, I totally respect that. There may a time in the future that could be discussed again.

"It's just a bit transparent. We have this existential crisis almost in the United Kingdom in every part of it when it comes to our relationship with the rest of Europe. The impact it's going to have on our significance as a country, as a collection of nations, our peace and security potentially and in terms of our prosperity.

"To undermine an effort which we're trying to get behind, to give people the chance to remain in European Union through a referendum on the deal - to undermine that, to pursue the SNP obsession is damaging to Scotland as well as the rest of the United Kingdom. We're not having any truck with that."