Scottish PM sets date for new independence referendum

AFP

NOS News•Today, 21:04

Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon has set the date for a new independence referendum on October 19, 2023. If it is up to the Prime Minister, the population will indicate on that date whether Scotland should secede from the United Kingdom or not. It is a non-binding referendum. In a plebiscite in 2014, Scots voted to remain with the UK.

According to British media, Sturgeon wrote to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to formally request permission for the referendum. Westminster is still reluctant. Johnson repeatedly refused to move and London recently announced that now is “not the time” for a new referendum. But even if that permission does not come, Sturgeon wants to organize a plebiscite, she said.

However, she indicated that the polls must take place within the framework of the constitution. To make this possible, she wants the British Supreme Court to first consider the matter. That should determine whether Scotland can hold a referendum without London’s consent. Whether the Supreme Court Sturgeon is right is by no means certain.

Earlier referendum

In 2014, the Scots were also allowed to indicate whether they wanted to become independent from the United Kingdom. A majority of 55 percent said they wanted to stay with the UK. After that, Sturgeon’s party SNP said a new referendum would not be re-organized “within one generation”. The SNP leader is regularly reminded of that statement, but according to Sturgeon, Brexit has changed the political situation in such a way that a new referendum is justified.

At the time of the Brexit referendum, 62 percent of Scots voted to remain in the EU. Throughout the Brexit negotiations, Sturgeon has always insisted that Scotland did not want to leave the EU.

Sturgeon sees herself strengthened in her struggle since last year. Then the nationalist parties gained a majority in the Scottish Parliament in the regional elections. Sturgeon’s SNP won 64 of the 129 seats. “What I will never allow is Scottish democracy to become a prisoner of Boris Johnson or any other prime minister,” she said.

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