SNP hints party would back Jeremy Corbyn if he allowed an independence referendum

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Scottish nationalists today stepped up their campaign to break up the United Kingdom by pushing for another referendum within two years amid the Brexit turmoil.

They signalled that another independence poll would be the price of any deal to prop up a Jeremy Corbyn government if Boris Johnson is ousted from Downing Street in a confidence vote.

SNP foreign affairs spokesman Stephen Gethins believes a second vote on Scotland splintering away from the rest of the UK was now “pretty close” given the “crucial juncture” sparked in the country by Brexit.

“We’ve got to make big decisions over these coming weeks and months,” he told the BBC’s Today programme.

“People in Scotland should be able to make a fundamental decision about do you want to crash out of the EU for a no-deal Brexit ... or make our own decisions like our neighbours in Ireland and Denmark.”

Pressed on whether Labour “supporting or acquiescing” to an independence poll would be a condition for the SNP to back a Corbyn administration, he added: “It would be certainly something that we want to see.”

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell sparked outrage in Labour ranks by saying that the Scottish Parliament, where there is majority in favour of another referendum, should decide whether there should be one, rather than Westminster.

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard reprimanded him, insisting that a second independence referendum was “unwanted by the people of Scotland”, “unnecessary” and that the 2014 poll was a “once-in-a-generation vote”.

Mr McDonnell turned the spotlight back onto Labour and Brexit in a series of outspoken interviews at the Edinburgh Festival, including saying that if Mr Johnson refused to stand down after losing a confidence vote he would send Mr Corbyn “in a cab to Buckingham Palace to say we’re taking over”.

The Prime Minister’s key adviser Dominic Cummings, who clashed with Tory rebel leader Dominic Grieve yesterday, has told ministers that the Commons is not able to stop a no-deal.

However, a constitutional “Parliament versus Government” clash is looming when MPs return in early September, with growing talk of moves to try to form a unity government to stop a chaotic crash-out from the EU.

But Labour is deeply split over whether to seek a national unity government.

Former Cabinet minister Lord Falconer tweeted: “If no conf motion passes, and there isn’t maj in Commons for Lab govt but there is for nat unity govt whose only purpose is to have gen election before 31/10 or if after 31/10 ask for extension pending outcome of GE, and that’s only way to stop no-deal exit Lab should support it.”

However, many Labour MPs are strongly opposed to such a move.

“Forget national unity government. I want a @UKLabour government. Nothing less will do,” tweeted Hull East Labour MP Karl Turner.

The Liberal Democrats may refuse to back a unity government with Mr Corbyn at the helm. A senior Lib-Dem MP said: “I can’t conceive of any circumstances under which we would put Jeremy Corbyn into No 10. He’s not only dangerous for our national security but for our economic security too.”

Rebel Tory MPs are in talks with Opposition MPs over ways to block a no-deal, including passing a new law, which could also see the September party conference recess scrapped.

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