Scottish independence: Nationalist MPs support "back door" independence move

A Nationalist MP has said refusal of Westminster to grant an second independence referendum "necessitates a Plan B" allowing breakaway talks with an SNP election victory.

A majority of Scots now back independence, according to a poll last week

Douglas Chapman, the Dunfermline and West Fife MP, is throwing his weight behind a motion among party activists which would see a Nationalist victory at the next Holyrood or Westminster election providing a mandate for the Scottish Government to open negotiations on independence.

It is being brought before SNP conference in Autumn by Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil and Chris McEleny and has the backing of MP Lisa Cameron, as well as MSP Christine Grahame.Mr Chapman told the National newspaper: "All the signs are that a right-wing Tory government are not going to play ball over another Edinburgh Agreement."He added: "These circumstances necessitates a Plan B and in the absence of agreement with the UK on a second independence referendum, then pro-independence parties winning a majority of Scottish seats in an UK or Scottish election is a pragmatic way to expressing the legitimacy of our right to self-determination.”

A majority of Scots now back independence, according to a poll last week

The Scottish Government requires a Section 30 order from Westminster, which has control over the constitution, to stage a second referendum on independence. But this has so far been rejected by the Tory Government. But the pressure has been stepped in the past week after Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said Labour would not block a second vote on independence if Holyrood and the people backed it, while a shock poll suggested there is now a majority (52%-48%) of Scots who back independence.But Pamela Nash, chief executive of Scotland in Union, branded the supporters of the conference motion "fanatical" and accused them of trying to get independence "through the back door."She added; "This would be a democratic outrage.“Scotland’s future is in Scotland’s hands, and the people of Scotland have rejected independence in a once-in-a-generation referendum that Nicola Sturgeon accepted was the ‘gold standard’.“The very last thing Scotland needs is endless constitutional division. With exam results falling and crises in hospitals in Edinburgh and Glasgow, the SNP should focus on what really matters to the people of Scotland.”