Nicola Sturgeon says Scottish independence will guarantee the cooperation of the nations of the United Kingdom

Nicola Sturgeon blamed “aggressive federalism” for fueling divergence and said that Scottish independence was the only way to ensure equal partnership between the nations that made up the United Kingdom.

The Scottish prime minister, whose government has asked the UK Supreme Court to decide whether parliament in Edinburgh has the legal right to hold a “consultative” referendum on the break with the UK, told supporters of his Scottish national party on Monday Will tell. The separation would restore the country’s relations with the rest of Britain.

But excerpts from his speech, published before his closing speech at the first national SNP conference since the outbreak of Covid-19, did not directly address the economic issues dominating the independence debate, such as the assessment of what would be an independent Scotland. . or the creation of a trade border with England in the event of an independent Scotland joining the European Union.

Sturgeon said Scotland has suffered a “democratic deficit” as the UK government has invaded government powers developed since Brexit, unilaterally deciding on issues that should fall within Edinburgh’s jurisdiction.

He said this undermined the idea of ​​Britain as a voluntary association of nations. Sturgeon and other SNP leaders also said that the party’s victory in the 2021 election for the Scottish Parliament was a mandate for another vote of independence.

“There is a point here that may seem curious at first glance, but from my point of view it is becoming more and more true,” Sturgeon will say in Aberdeen on Monday. “Freedom is really the best way to protect the partnership on which the UK was founded, the voluntary participation of nations.”

Sturgeon’s campaign for a second referendum came to a halt at the end of Scotland’s 315-year union with England, with the UK government refusing to allow it, and the country almost split in the middle according to opinion polls. A Supreme Court hearing begins Tuesday on the possibility of holding a referendum next year without the Westminster government’s consent.

Opposition parties accused him of neglecting the regime and said, eight years after Scots voted 55% to 45% in favor of the union, that it was the answer to concerns about the economy, business. Voting in favor of the union in 2014.

Sturgeon will say on Monday that the economic reasons for independence will be presented in the latest papers to be released by the Scottish government next week.

“Our economic brochure will be the economic cause of freedom,” he would say. “It will show how we can build a new sustainable economy based on our vast renewable energy resources and show how in a free Scotland, we can deliver lower energy prices and greater security of supply.”