Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon yesterday said it was “highly likely” that Scotland would hold a new independence referendum before 2020 after Britain voted to leave the European Union.
Asked on ITV’s Peston on Sunday programme whether she would anticipate a second Scottish referendum before 2020, Sturgeon said: “I think it is highly likely given the situation we’re in...if anything what has happened since then has probably made me think that even more so than I did the morning after the referendum.”
Scotland voted by a large margin to remain in the European Union, while overall Britain voted to leave in a referendum that has reignited talk of a split between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom.
Scots rejected independence two years ago.
Sturgeon told her Scottish National Party’s annual conference last week the devolved government was preparing for all possibilities including independence after Britain leaves the EU.
“If (the British government) insists on taking Scotland down a path that hurts our economy, costs jobs, lowers our living standards and damages our reputation as an open, welcoming, diverse country – then be in no doubt,” she told the SNP conference at its close on Saturday, “Scotland must have the ability to choose a better future.”
Sturgeon said economic stability has been threatened by the prospect of the UK leaving the European single market as well as the EU, taking Scotland with it.
Scotland wants to keep as many of the advantages of single market membership as it can even if Britain leaves, and is looking for a bespoke deal to do so, as is London, where a majority also voted to remain in the EU.