A SECOND independence referendum must be a de facto vote on rejoining the European Union if Yes has any hope of winning, according to campaigners.

It follows the revelations in The National that key figures in the SNP are considering holding a second referendum after an independence referendum to confirm the terms of re-entering the EU.

Believe in Scotland (BIS), the pro-independence group headed up by Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp, said that indyref2 would be lost if “there is any ambiguity about our intention to rejoin the EU as an independent nation”.

BIS pointed to a poll, published on January 28, which showed that 97% of people who have moved from No to Yes have done so with the hope of seeing an independent Scotland rejoin the EU.

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They added: “When you look at the overall attitudes towards joining the EU from the whole Yes movement there is still a supermajority of 88% support for rejoining.”

The group said it had polled 5943 independence supporters “to seek their opinions on a range of issues impacting the movement”.

It went on: “[These results are] backed up from our general population research which identified majority Yes support amongst non-Scots-born voters (with specific policy offers) and rejoining the EU is fundamental to that as EU-born citizens will vote Yes in big numbers to rejoin the EU, whereas last time they feared a Yes vote meant leaving the EU.”

Writing earlier this week, Professor Sir John Curtice said we “can anticipate that any second referendum would be framed as a choice between an independent Scotland that would seek to rejoin the EU and a Scotland that was part of the UK but still outside the EU”.

He went on to say that such a framing would help to dispel concerns in voters’ minds that leaving the UK could have severe economic consequences without respite.

Curtice pointed to one poll which found that 45% of Scots thought the country would be better off economically independent within the EU, while just 35% thought it would be better off as part of the UK outside the EU.

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Tim Rideout, the convener of the Scottish Currency Group, said the plan to hold two separate votes seemed “eminently sensible and democratic”.

“Bear in mind that would be 4 years or more AFTER Indy, so 2030?” he added.

Toni Giugliano, the SNP’s policy convener, said: “As democrats we would want to take the people of Scotland with us. I have no doubt that with Scotland having voted 62% to remain in the EU they would want to rejoin the European Union and escape the disaster of Brexit.

“But we should as democrats set out an approach where we want to take Scotland with us and do that through a referendum.”