NICOLA Sturgeon has insisted a second referendum on Brexit would not set a precedent for another referendum on Scottish independence in the event of a Yes vote.
After saying SNP MPs would back a People’s Vote on the Brexit deal if it came to a choice in the Commons, the First Minister said the situation was quite different for independence.
The Scottish Tories accused her of “rank hypocrisy”.
Senior SNP figures including former deputy leader Jim Sillars and former cabinet secretary Alex Neil have warned against a second vote on Brexit in case it sets a precedent for a Unionist-led “third referendum” on independence to overturn a Yes vote.
But Ms Sturgeon said the EU and UK constitutional votes were not alike, as there was no detailed prospectus on Brexit but there was a detailed White Paper on independence in 2014.
On the issue of another vote on Brexit, the First Minister told BBC Radio Scotland: "If the vote presents itself in the House of Commons - I don't know yet that it will - my view is that SNP MPs should vote for that."
Asked whether that would then a precedent for on independence, Ms Sturgeon replied: "In my view, no, and I'll explain exactly why."
She said: "If you look back to 2014, there was a detailed proposition put to people in that referendum, the White Paper, which not everybody agreed with, obviously.
"It was a detailed proposition, setting out the implications, setting out in advance some of the compromises that would be required - currency union, for example, continued regulatory harmony.
"So people knew what they were voting for. They knew the shape of the deal that the Scottish Government would then have negotiated if the vote had been for independence.
"The contrast between that and the 2016 Brexit vote could not be starker. There was the lie on the side of the bus and nothing more.
"There was no detail then, there is no detail now and it looks increasingly likely that when the UK leaves the EU at the end of March next year, there will still be no detail about the future relationship, and that makes these two situations, in my view, very different."
She repeated the point when asked about a future White Paper merely being a starting point in negotiations with the UK, and not the final outcome, which might be quite different.
In 2014, the White Paper said Scotland would be able to continue in a currency union with sterling, but the UK government explicitly ruled it out.
Glasgow Tory MSP Annie Wells said: “Surely even Nicola Sturgeon can see the rank hypocrisy here.
“Her position is that, if she loses a referendum, then it must be re-run – but if she wins one, we have to accept her say-so forever.
“We may be Leave or Remain, Yes or No, but we should all be democrats first and foremost. That means respecting our decision to stay in the UK, and respecting our decision to leave the EU.
“Nicola Sturgeon’s failure to do either speaks volumes about her failure to listen. With an attitude like this, no wonder the SNP lost 21 seats under her leadership last year.”
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