The Scottish independence movement is beginning to splinter after the SNP's disappointing election result, which dented the prospect of another referendum, leading Yes figures have told BuzzFeed News.

Prominent pro-independence writers, editors, and campaigners have said that, without a clear path to a second independence referendum to bind it together, the movement has been blighted by recent factional infighting.

At the general election in June, the SNP lost 21 of the 56 seats it won in 2015, which caused Scotland's first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, to postpone her plans to pursue a second referendum as an alternative to Brexit.

With no clear momentum towards another referendum, and fresh doubts over whether the SNP is the best vehicle to deliver it, different sections of the broad Yes coalition have been publicly scrapping on social media.

The unity of the 2014 referendum has been replaced with arguments between left and centrist, different pro-independence news outlets, the SNP and the Greens, and those who want independence now and those who want to bide their time.

"If we don't get our collective head out of our collective bahookie then the whole indy project is going to be sunk without a trace," said a former senior staffer for Yes Scotland, the official 2014 pro-independence campaign.

