THE long-serving SNP MPs Pete Wishart and Angus McNeil last night made the rare move of rebelling against the party whip and abstained on the motion to back a confirmatory referendum.

Both politicians – who back staying in the EU – had previously expressed concern about the potential impact a second EU vote could have on a Yes result in new independence referendum.

They fear it could set a precedent for a confirmatory vote on any future deal agreed between an independent Scotland and the UK.

Meanwhile, Nicola Sturgeon has said SNP MPs would support a “soft Brexit” if it was not possible to stop the UK’s exit from the European

Union. The First Minister made clear her party’s position as she responded to suggestions the SNP were not ready to engage in the process of compromise behind yesterday’s “indicative votes”.

Debate on the issue took place after Glasgow MP Carol Monaghan tweeted her ballot paper which showed she voted in favour of the option to revoke Article 50, to end Brexit, and also in favour of a confirmatory or second EU referendum.

It also showed she voted against a no-deal Brexit, but abstained on the option to remain in the single market and customs union – a plan first put forward by the Scottish Government in December 2016 and reiterated since then.

One journalist wrote: “It seems Sturgeon is not interested in compromise after all. She would prefer a crisis.”

Responding to the remark, the FM tweeted: “The first preference of @theSNP has always been to stop Brexit. If that’s not possible – and until relatively recently it seemed it wasn’t – we’d opt for soft Brexit over hard. But stopping Brexit is possible now and we voted tonight to give that the best chance.”

There were two motions proposing a softer Brexit voted on last night. Motion D – common market 2.0 was moved by Tory MP Nick Boles and would seek to amend the political declaration to seek membership of the Efta’s EEA pillar and a customs arrangement with the EU.

Motion H – Efta and EEA was moved by Tory MP George Eustice. It seeks membership of the EEA’s Efta pillar but wouldn’t join a UK-wide customs union, leaving the UK to seek its own trade deals after Brexit. It got less support than the Bole’s motion.

After no option gained a majority Brexiteer Mark Francois said: “The attempt to seize the order paper has failed.”

But Anna Soubry, of the Independent group, said: “This is a two-stage process – today was to see where the biggest support may be. A customs union got 264 votes and the biggest of all was a People’s Vote,” adding that both received more votes than the PM’s deal. “We go forward to Monday to find a compromise.

“It is obvious the Prime Minister’s deal needs to go back to the people.”