The Scottish government will move to hold a second referendum on independence from the United Kingdom, the country's First Minister has announced, according to The Independent.
Nicola Sturgeon made the announcement in a speech on Monday, March 13 morning at Bute House, as MPs in Westminster prepared to give Theresa May the power to trigger Article 50 and begin Brexit negotiations.
She said the UK Government had "not moved even an inch in pursuit of compromise and agreement" with the Scottish Government over Brexit and that even a good deal would be "significantly inferior" to the status quo.
"If Scotland can be ignored on an issue as important as the EU and the single market then it is clear that our voice can be ignored at any time and on any issue," she said.
The First Minister said the vote had to be held between Autumn 2018 and Spring 2019 – before it was "too late" but after "the terms of Brexit are known". The First Minister says she will apply to the UK Government to authorise the referendum but that it should respect the will of the Scottish Parliament.
Under the so-called "Section 30 order" used to a call a referendum the UK Parliament must authorise a poll – meaning Sturgeon's all could be blocked by May.
She added: "The option of no change is no longer available. But we will give the Scottish people a choice about the kind of change we want."
“I believe that it would be wrong for Scotland to be taken down a path that it has no control over regardless of the consequences for our economy, for our society, for our place in the world, for our very sense of who we are as a country. That would be wrong, and therefore my judgement is that we should have that choice," she said.
"I believe that in a referendum the Scottish people will opt for independence, but that will be the choice of the Scottish people and I’ve been very clear that that will be an informed choice.”
The SNP won the Scottish Parliament elections last year on a manifesto that explicitly said another referendum was an option if Scotland was "taken out of the EU against our will".
Scotland voted by 62 per cent to stay in the the European Union while the UK as a whole voted out. Theresa May has also confirmed that she will take Britain out of the single market – one of the "red lines" previously set by Ms Sturgeon for another vote.
