64% of Scots think ‘People’s Vote’ would overturn 2016 EU vote result – poll

Almost two-thirds of Scots believe a second vote on Brexit would result in the UK voting to stay in the European Union, a new poll has found.

Research by Survation found 64% found a so-called People’s Vote would reverse the result of the 2016 referendum.

The results, published to coincide with the launch of the Scotland for a People’s Vote campaign, also found almost three-fifths of Scots (59%) support having a vote on the terms of the UK’s final Brexit deal, with 41% against this.

Overall support for staying in the European Union was slightly stronger in Scotland than it was in 2016 referendum.

That ballot saw the UK as a whole narrowly vote to leave, despite 62% of voters north of the border backing remain.

In the poll, 63% of people said they supported staying in the EU, with 37% opposed to this.

John Edward, the former head of the European Parliament Office in Scotland who was chief campaign spokesman for the Remain campain in Scotland in 2016, said the survey “shows that the people of Scotland are optimistic about achieving a remain result across the UK”.

Speaking at the launch event for Scotland for a People’s Vote in Edinburgh, he added: “We share that confidence.

“Scotland can come together and play a leading role in the campaign for a People’s Vote and help to bring back common sense through a referendum on the reality of Brexit – not the fiction of the Leave campaign in 2016.”

Meanwhile, Dr Kirsty Hughes, director of the Scottish Centre on European Relations, said: “There is no good Brexit – just a range of bad Brexits, economically, politically and in terms of our security and international influence.

“Scotland voted strongly to stay in the EU in 2016, and the whole UK now agrees with Scotland and supports remain according to a whole host of recent polls.

“We are calling on politicians from all parties in Scotland to respond positively to the case for a People’s Vote. It’s in Scotland’s interests to stay in the EU and a strong lead from Scottish politicians can help ensure that the majority in Scotland who support holding a People’s Vote is given a voice before the issue comes to the House of Commons.”

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has already pledged SNP MPs will vote in favour of a second brexit referendum if the issue comes before the House of Commons.

While she was not be at the march for a People’s Vote in London, a video message from her in support was played to campaigners.

But prominent SNP MP Pete Wishart has warned that another referendum could present “all sorts of risks to a future independence referendum for nothing”.

He argued a second ballot on Brexit could make it more difficult to resist calls for a similar confirmatory ballot in Scotland if nationalists were to win another indyref.

Mr Wishart, the chair of Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee, stated: “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.

“And if they were successful in using this precedent against us, unreconciled Unionists would be working non-stop from the day after the referendum to ensure that a successful outcome would be overturned.”