Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon wants to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence next year, she told the British daily The Times on Friday, a few months before the local elections in May 2021.
“Scotland should have the opportunity to choose whether to become independent in the earlier, rather than the later, part of the next parliament,” Sturgeon said.
Such an election had already been held in 2014 and the Scots had then voted 55% to stay within the United Kingdom. Since then, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly ruled out allowing Scotland to hold a new referendum, arguing that it was a vote that came once in a generation.
In the event of a major victory in the Scottish general election in May, First Minister Sturgeon's Scottish National Party could demand a clear mandate from the people to hold such a referendum.
Last October, a poll showed that an unprecedented 58% of Scots now say they are in favour of their region becoming independent from the UK.
Sturgeon promised to set the terms and date of a second referendum before the local elections in May, arguing that Brexit had made a difference for the Scots. The British province had voted overwhelmingly in 2016 against the exit from the European Union, adopted at national level and effective since the end of January.
The Brussels Times
