Scottish govt takes step toward another independence vote

Next week the Scottish government will publish a bill laying the groundwork for a new independence referendum, the country’s leader announced on Thursday, the first step toward a new vote on whether Scotland should leave the United Kingdom.

Scottish voters rejected independence in 2014 by 55 per cent to 45 per cent, but Britain’s June 23 vote to leave the European Union has reopened the Scotland question.

By a large majority, Scots backed remaining in the EU, but they were outnumbered by a majority in England who wanted to leave.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told her pro-independence Scottish National Party on Thursday that “the Independence Referendum Bill will be published for consultation next week.” 

She said if Britain leaves the EU’s enormous single market of 500 million consumers, “Scotland will have the right to decide, afresh, if it wants to take a different path.” 

“A UK out of the single market - isolated, inward looking, hemorrhaging jobs, investment and opportunities - will not be the same country that Scotland voted to stay part of in 2014,” Nicola Sturgeon said.