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Scotland votes for independence referendum; EU flag will remain flying outside Holyrood

Saturday, February 1st 2020 - 08:31 UTC
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Lawmakers in Edinburgh voted 64-54 for a referendum ”so that the people of Scotland can decide whether they wish it to become an independent country.” Lawmakers in Edinburgh voted 64-54 for a referendum ”so that the people of Scotland can decide whether they wish it to become an independent country.”

Scotland’s Parliament voted this week ahead of Friday, to hold a new referendum on Scottish independence, a move intended to increase political pressure on the British government as the UK leaves the European Union.

Lawmakers in the Edinburgh-based legislature voted 64-54 to call for holding a referendum “so that the people of Scotland can decide whether they wish it to become an independent country.”

However, the vote will have little immediate effect. A binding referendum can’t take place without the British government's agreement, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson this month turned down the Scottish government's request for one on the independence question.

Johnson argues that a 2014 plebiscite, in which Scots rejected independence, was billed as a once-in-a-generation vote and should stand.

Scotland’s pro-independence government says Brexit changes everything. Britain as a whole voted narrowly in 2016 to leave the EU, but voters in Scotland opted by a large margin to remain.

The UK’s long-delayed exit from the EU is due to took place on Friday.

”We stand just two days from losing our EU membership and all of the rights that go with it,” said Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

”In my view, it is beyond doubt now that the only realistic way for Scotland to return to the heart of Europe and to ensure we get the governments we vote for is to become an independent country,” Sturgeon said.

Scottish lawmakers also voted to keep the European Union flag flying outside the Scottish Parliament after Brexit.

Categories: Economy, Politics, International.

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  • NativeAngeleno

    The Scottish parliament should vote to declare itself the Independent Parliament of the Republic of Scotland---you know, as a Declaration of Independence, before any body outside itself “allows” it to take a nationwide vote by its former bosses down in Brexitland---and hold that referendum all by itself. The English couldn't stop that. Let the Scots as a people decide! Not the likes of Boris Johnson, the English version of Donald Trump.

    The cry of “Freedom!” from Europe by the Brexiteers cuts both ways, as in the coming Scottish Exit from the interfering English UK. I believe that cry as a national cause was coined in Scotland against the invasion, subjugation and oppression of all things Scottish, of all independent thought, of Edward I.

    Scotland: Let Freedom ring!

    Feb 01st, 2020 - 03:51 pm 0
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