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Scotland’s Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said that she has “never been more certain” of achieving independence, and that Britain’s final withdrawal from EU trade deals will precede key Scottish elections in the coming months.
Scotland’s deputy head of government and the pro-independence leader of the Independent Nationalist Party (SNP) told their supporters at the party’s virtual conference that the prospect of a rift between Scotland and the rest of the UK has never been so close.
“Independence is in sight, and with unity of purpose, humility and hard work, I have never been so sure that we will fulfill it,” she said.
Sturgeon and the SNP have argued for a second referendum on Scottish independence since the party’s overwhelming victory among Scottish seats in Britain’s 2019 general election.
He now hopes that a further resounding victory in the Edinburgh parliamentary elections next May will give his party a mandate for a second offer to leave the UK.
Opinion polls in recent months have shown that the majority of public opinion in Scotland now supports independence.
The country chose to remain part of the four-nation United Kingdom in a 2014 referendum on the issue.
However, Scots later voted by an overwhelming majority in 2016 to remain in the European Union, a referendum that the exit side won by a narrow margin when taking the rest of Britain into account.
Since then, “we have won a landslide victory in the UK general election and support for independence has grown, it has become the majority and sustained view of public opinion this year,” Sturgeon said.
“Who should make the decisions that shape our future? We know that it is the people who live here, wherever they come from, who can best harness Scotland’s vast human and natural resources.”
“We are going to reach all of Scotland like never before,” he added.
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Sturgeon urged his party to “show … that Scotland is ready to take our place in the global family of independent nations”, saying it was “now a nation on the brink of making history.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly rejected calls for another referendum, saying the 2014 vote settled the issue for a generation.
Earlier this month, Scottish independence advocates took advantage of the prime minister’s remarks in which he said the creation of a decentralized parliament in Edinburgh had been “a disaster”.
In response, Sturgeon said the only way to protect parliament was “with independence.”
On Thursday, he said a referendum could be held “in advance” of the next parliamentary session.
“The people of Scotland have the right to choose their future. Now, let us focus all our efforts on ensuring that we achieve that better country that they and future generations deserve,” he said today.
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