EU’s chief Brexit negotiator and Labour’s Scottish deputy leader agree with Nicola

Scotland’s chances of automatic EU entry got a massive boost yesterday as a by chief Brexit negotiator. Guy Verhofstadt, who will co-ordinate the European Parliament’s response to the UK’s vote to leave, said “an independent Scotland should be let into the EU straight away” he added “If Scotland decides to leave the UK, to be an independent state, and they decide to be part of the EU, I think there is no big obstacle to do tha.t”  He also added that it would be “suicide” for the EU to refuse entry to people who are “sympathetic” to the EU’s aims. Verhofstadt has been a supporter of Scotland’s vote to remain in the EU following June’s referendum.

SNP MEP Alyn Smith last night said Verhofstadt’s appointment meant “all the doors we need are open”, adding: “It’s good news – we can do business. “He is a long-standing respected MEP. Having negotiated Belgian politics, he’ll be able to corral 27 national interests and be pragmatic about solutions. He’s also proven he’s alive to the Scottish question. He’s a clever chap, very astute, and a hard worker capable of seeing the big picture”

Also on the First Ministers side is deputy leader of Scottish Labour has backed Nicola Sturgeon's right to call for a new independence vote. Alex Rowley, Kezia Dugdale's number two, said “he would not oppose" giving Scotland a new vote to leave the UK and accepted that the First Minister had a right to hold one after Brexit.

He added" I have lost count of the number of people that have asked whether I support a second referendum on independence. My response is that I would not oppose such a referendum and accept the SNP were clear in their manifesto that the Scottish Parliament would have the right to hold another one if there was a ‘significant and material change’ in the circumstances that prevailed in 2014 – such as Scotland being taken out of the EU against its will”.