Scotland: Government wants to push independence referendum

London Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced that she intends to maintain Scotland’s exit from the United Kingdom, regardless of the outcome of the proceedings before the Supreme Court. Sturgeon wants to hold a referendum on it in October 2023, which the conservative British government in London refused to do.

A Supreme Court hearing begins Tuesday on whether the semi-autonomous Scottish government can hold an independence referendum in London without government approval.

Sturgeon said on Sunday that if his Edinburgh-based government lost the case, it would hold the next general election in Britain, a de facto referendum, ending the political union with England that had existed since 1707. The first minister did not explain how this might work. A vote would not be legally binding without the approval of the UK Government.

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If the courts block the referendum, the matter will be put to the people’s vote in the election, “otherwise we will abandon Scottish democracy,” said the leader of the Scottish National Party. That should be the last resort she isn’t striving for. “I want to have a legitimate referendum,” she said.

In 2014, Scottish voters rejected independence by 55% to 45% in a referendum. Sturgeon’s government argues that Britain’s exit from the European Union and the coronavirus pandemic have created new facts in politics and business, so the issue needs to be reconsidered. In the Brexit referendum, the Scots, unlike the British as a whole, spoke out in favor of remaining in the European Union.

More: Scottish government wants to vote on independence again in 2023