A former SNP cabinet minister has warned the party faces a tougher battle than before in attempting to win a new referendum on Scottish independence.
Kenny MacAskill, who was succeeded by Michael Matheson in First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's new administration, said the circumstances surrounding moves to IndyRef2 are "arguably both less favourable and more complicated" than in 2014 and that the "Achilles heels" of that campaign remain.
He told the i newspaper: "The currency question remains unanswered and hangs like a dark cloud over any future independence campaign. Until and unless that is answered, severe challenges remain.
"Additionally, the economic situation is, if anything, worse. While the oil price has risen in the past few weeks, the North Sea has been hit hard.
"As a consequence, so has economic confidence. All the evidence is that it was those key economic questions that cost the Yes campaign victory. Turning them around is essential to winning over doubters."
He said Brexit had changed the debate and had potentially split support for Scottish independence and winning a new referendum would be "harder than before".
He said: "Many of the most intense Yes supporters voted Leave. Disadvantaged areas in Scotland are similar in many ways to those down south, where their ills were blamed on immigration and the EU.
"While many of them may remain committed to independence, if the referendum is predicated on rejoining the EU then that may fade."
Mr MacAskill warned the UK Government may not give consent for a second Scottish independence referendum.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article