Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon insists on working on forming a pro-independence majority and is holding talks with the Green Party for a coalition. Sturgeon, the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), said she had held discussions with the Greens, who have promised to support a second independence referendum, at her official residence earlier this week.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is traveling on Thursday to Scotland to confront growing support for another independence referendum. Ahead of his visit, Johnson said that Scotland, as a part of the UK, gained access to a coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, and they are being administered by their shared armed forces, who are creating 80 new vaccine centers in Scotland.
Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon said an independence referendum that could wrench apart the United Kingdom after Brexit should take place in the earlier part of the devolved parliament’s next term, which begins next year.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson triggered anger Monday in Scotland when he called the decision to grant Scotland governing powers ”a disaster,” and said he did not support granting the nation any additional powers. The reported comments come as surveys show rising support for a second independence referendum.
Support for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom has risen to a record high of 58%, an Ipsos Mori poll released on Wednesday suggested. The poll of 1,045 adults aged over 16 across Scotland, conducted from Oct 2 to 9, saw only 42% back staying in the union once undecided voters were stripped out.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Monday that Britain would be weaker if the union that binds its four nations were broken - his latest rejection of a growing push for Scottish independence.
Scotland is already taking steps to hold a referendum on independence and believes it is a matter of when rather than if the country separates from the rest of Britain, Scotland's First Minister said on Monday.
Scotland must hold another independence referendum in 2020 and will soon request the powers needed to hold it legally, Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon said. Scots rejected independence in a referendum in 2014 but the SNP says that Britain's vote to leave the European Union fundamentally changes its constitutional arrangements and means that the independence question should be revisited.
Tens of thousands of Scottish independence supporters marched in Edinburgh on Saturday, as calls grow for a fresh vote on Scotland breaking away from the United Kingdom with Brexit scheduled for within weeks.
Prime Minister Theresa May will urge her successor on Thursday to strengthen the bonds between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, in a veiled criticism of those in her party who are widely thought to prefer Brexit to the union.