Those of us who warned that a second referendum on Brexit , would lead to Unionists demanding that there would have to be a "confirmation vote " if there was a Scottish vote for independence have proven true with the Liberal Democrat leader proposing making Scottish independence harder - by adding a further hurdle to the country leaving the UK.
Sir Vince Cable said any vote in favour of independence should be followed by another referendum on the terms of the exit settlement before Scotland leaves.
He said such "confirmatory" votes were common in countries like Switzerland, where referendums are common. (see Wings on why this is not true)
He also urged the SNP to "come off the fence" on a second EU referendum.
A hypocritical viewpoint when he denied that Scotland should not have a second referendum themselves.
In an interview with BBC Scotland, Sir Vince - whose party wants to stop Brexit happening - said momentum for a so-called "people's vote" on the final deal between the UK and EU was building.
He said:
"I think it's very clear that people in Scotland, as in other parts of the United Kingdom, don't want Brexit to happen.
"They want to stop it and it can be stopped, and the best mechanism for stopping it is to have a people's vote. I think momentum is building up behind that and I'm trying to work with people in other parties to make sure it happens."
The Lib Dems and SNP share a common goal of keeping the UK in both the single market and customs union - but Nicola Sturgeon has not yet endorsed holding a second vote on Brexit.
Sir Vince added
"We would like the SNP to come off the fence on the people's vote because this is absolutely crucial and they haven't got there yet."
With regard to a possible second vote on Scottish independence, Mr Cable said Scotland's desire to remain in the UK had been determined by the 2014 referendum.
But he said: "If there ever were in future a referendum on Scottish independence and people voted for it, I think they would themselves have to accept that there should then be a confirmatory vote at the end.
"That would be the way referendums are conducted in places like Switzerland, which use these things commonly.
"So I don't think there's any inconsistency with supporting us on the principle of having a people's vote on Europe."
If I was Nicola Sturgeon I would argue that Indyref2 (a second vote on Scottish Independence) would in effect be a "Peoples Vote" in exactly the same way a second Brexit referendum would be.
Only nine per cent of Scots believes that “The Vow” has been kept, according to a 2015 poll. The Vow, signed by Prime Minister David Cameron, then Labour leader Ed Miliband and then Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg promised Scots more powers if they voted No in the independence referendum.
The Vow was conceived and drafted by journalists at the Daily Record, in consultation with former prime minister Gordon Brown.
The three party leaders signed up with the idea after a poll put the Yes campaign ahead for the first time in two-and-half years.
According to the the author Joe Pike’s book "Project Fear", ,Brown was first approached by the Record on the afternoon of September 11.
The Daily Record had contacted the former prime minister after Ed Miliband had brought 104 MPs to Glasgow. Their slow march down Buchanan Street became a PR disaster. It was soundtracked by protester, Empire Biscuits, playing the Imperial March from Star Wars through a giant PA and using a megaphone to shout, “Say hello to your imperial masters ... People of Glasgow, your imperial masters have arrived!”
That afternoon the editor of the Record contacted Brown to ask if he could get Miliband, Clegg, and Cameron “to sign an agreed Daily Record pledge for more devolved powers (subject to a consultation process as per Gordon’s timetable)?”
Printed on the 16th, The Vow became an important part of the constitutional debate before and after the referendum.
So important was The Vow to the Smith Commission, according to the book, that civil servants responsible for keeping the commission on track had copies of the Daily Record’s front page plastered over their wall and would often ask of proposed policy “Does this fit with the framework of “The Vow”?”
Unionist may well argue that none of the signatories are party now leaders and only one (Milliband) is a MP.
However if the plan apart from leave breaking the law over spending limits (Though I bet Better Together the umbrellas Unionist group in the Scottish referendum , may have been close) is thay the people of the UK were lied to on Brexit., then exactly the same criteria as would be a people vote on Independence.
Essentially a Peoples vote on Brexit would reverse the vote to leave the EU in 2014 and a Peoples vote in Scotland would reverse the vote against Independence in 2014.
I see no difference but I bet Vince Cable and his fellow Unionists on both sides of the Brxit vote,
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