BREAKAWAY party The Independent Group have confirmed they will field candidates in Scotland if European elections go ahead next month.

That could mean at least eight parties fighting for the six Scottish seats up for grabs.

It looks increasingly likely that voters in the UK will need to go to the polls on May 23 to elect new MEPs.

On Friday, Theresa May asked for a brief extension to the Brexit negotiations until June 30, but that is almost certainly going to be rejected by the EU27, who will demand a lengthy delay which means the UK taking part in elections.

European Council President Donald Tusk wants EU leaders to offer the Prime Minister a “flextension” in which the UK would be given a year-long extension, but would be allowed to leave early in the event of a Brexit deal being passed.

The UK Government believes this could mean parties taking part in campaigning but pulling out as late as May 22 if MPs back a deal.

Reportedly, some 200 people across the UK – including one pro-EU former Tory Cabinet minister and several former MPs and MEPs from the main parties – have asked to stand for the Independent Group.

The group, which is made up of eight former Labour and three former Tory MPs, have applied to the Electoral Commission to register as a party and take part in the elections under the name Change UK – The Independent Group.

The group’s 11 MPs are set to begin selecting candidates this week. At the last European elections, the SNP won two of Scotland’s six seats, as did Labour, with the Tories and Ukip taking one each.

The SNP’s Alyn Smith and Ian Hudghton, Labour’s David Martin, and Tory Nosheena Mobarik are expected to stand again.

But it looks like there will be a tight scrap between Brexiteers.

David Coburn, who left Ukip earlier this year, will stand against his former colleagues as a candidate for Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party.

According to Sir John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, the

SNP could take a seat from Labour while the Tories are likely to keep their one MEP.

The final seat could see a battle between Ukip, the Brexit Party, the LibDems, the Greens, and now, possibly, the Independent Group.

Curtice said: “If the SNP can poll something like the 35%-40% the party is currently securing in the polls, a figure well above the 29% it won in 2014, it might hope to win as many as three seats.

“Meanwhile, if Labour comes third in Scotland, it could struggle to keep one of the two seats it won last time, enabling the Conservatives to pick up a second seat.”