May tries to mollify Scotland leader on Brexit trigger eve

LONDON : Two days before beginning the Brexit process – dubbed “Black Wednesday” by the pro-EU media – Prime Minister Theresa May travelled to Scotland on Monday for consultations as the ruling party in Edinburgh demanded another referendum on independence.

On March 29, May is due to send the formal notification to Brussels invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty that sets out a two-year process for a member country to leave the European Union. Keen to remain in the EU, Scotland’s ruling party wants to hold a referendum on leaving the UK.

According to May, Brexit is an opportunity to strengthen the union of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom. She has already rejected holding the referendum before the UK is due to leave the EU by March 2019, as demanded by first minister Nicola Sturgeon.

May said in a speech in East Kilbride: “(When) this great union of nations – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – sets its mind on something and works together with determination, we are an unstoppable force.