PLANS are under way to give people in Scotland the chance to vote during the next two years on whether the country should become independent.
Nicola Sturgeon confirmed a second independence referendum is “highly likely” after UK voters delivered a Brexit victory in the European Union plebiscite despite Scots voting to Remain. At a press conference in Edinburgh, the First Minister said yesterday: “As things stand, Scotland faces the prospect of being taken out of the EU against our will. I regard that as democratically unacceptable.”
Sturgeon said her Government will begin to draw up the legislation that could see another vote on independence take place “over the next two years”.
Across the UK, 51.9 per cent of voters backed leaving the EU, a result which led to David Cameron saying he would step down as Prime Minister before October’s Tory conference.
In Scotland 62 per cent voted to Remain and 38 per cent to Leave.
The SNP manifesto for May’s Holyrood elections said Scotland “should have the right to hold another referendum if there is a significant and material change in the circumstances that prevailed in 2014” and highlighted the scenario of Scotland being taken out of the EU against its will.
“It is, therefore, a statement of the obvious that a second referendum must be on the table, and it is on the table,” the SNP leader said, addressing journalists in Bute House.
When Westminster triggers the process to withdraw from Europe later this year, she said “the UK will be on a two-year path to the EU exit door”. Sturgeon added: “If Parliament judges that a second referendum is the best or only way to protect our place in Europe, it must have the option to hold one within that timescale.
“That means we must act now to protect that position. I can therefore confirm today that in order to protect that position we will begin to prepare the legislation that will be required to enable a new independence referendum to take place if and when Parliament so decides.”
Sturgeon said she had been contacted by “a large number of people” who voted against independence in 2014 and were now reassessing their decision. I am proud of Scotland and how we voted,” she said. “We voted to safeguard our freedom to travel, live, work and study in other European countries. And we voted to renew our reputation as an outward-looking, open and inclusive country. It is significant – in my view – that we did so after a campaign that was positive about the EU and about the benefits of migration.
“Indeed, I want to take the opportunity this morning to speak directly to citizens of other EU countries living here in Scotland – you remain welcome here, Scotland is your home and your contribution is valued.”
A new Referendum Bill would be supported in Holyrood by the SNP and Scottish Greens, giving sufficient backing to allow it to be passed in the event of opposition from the Tories, Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Last night SNP and Green sources said Brexit would allow the economic case for Scottish independence to be strengthened.
“An independent Scotland could become a real hub for European investment,” said one Scottish Greens insider. “Investors in Scotland would have an English speaking nation, but they would also have the appeal of being in the European Union with access to the single market.”
An SNP insider added: “We could see companies that want to leave the UK because of Brexit move their operations to an independent Scotland still in the EU.”
The value of sterling plummeted yesterday and investment bank Morgan Stanley was forced to deny a report it was moving 2,000 British jobs to Dublin and Frankfurt because of economic uncertainly in the UK under Brexit.
While Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale pointed out that her party’s manifesto was opposed to a second independence referendum, former Labour first minister Henry McLeish said the debate over Scotland’s future had “massively changed overnight”.
“The issue is we have left the EU and Scots have to make a decision on where they think their true interests lie,” he said. “I have great difficulty, great political difficulty and personal difficulty, being part of a UK that is no longer a part of the EU.’’
Dugdale said: “Labour’s manifesto ruled out a second referendum in the lifetime of this Parliament – we won’t be changing our minds any time soon.”
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson, who positioned her party as the main voice of Unionism in Scotland during last month’s
Holyrood elections, said a second independence referendum was not “in the best interests of the people of Scotland”.
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