Scotland plans new referendum
May has power to block poll request as she prepares to trigger Brexit process
THE risks to Britain of its vote to leave the EU were laid bare yesterday when Scotland’s nationalist government announced a new independence vote, pre-empting this week’s expected start of the Brexit process.
Prime Minister Theresa May could announce as early as today that she is triggering the Article 50 process of withdrawing from the European Union, putting Britain on course to leave by March 2019 after four decades of membership.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has long warned that largely pro-European Scotland would not accept a damaging break with the EU – and yesterday she made good on her threat.
“I will now take the steps necessary to make sure that Scotland will have a choice at the end of this process,” she said at a hastily convened media conference in Edinburgh.
This would be “a choice of whether to follow the UK to a hard Brexit or to become an independent country, able to secure a real partnership of equals with the rest of the UK and our own relationship with Europe”, she said.
The Scottish National Party (SNP) leader said she would next week begin seeking authority for a vote between autumn 2018 and early 2019 – before Britain leaves the EU.
May’s government has made clear it does not believe there should be another vote after a first Scottish referendum in 2014 in which a majority voted against independence, and she has the power to block the request.
However, rejecting Sturgeon’s request would likely only energise the Scottish nationalists’ cause – and is a major headache for May as she enters Brexit negotiations with the other 27 EU member states.
Sturgeon’s announcement came just hours before legislation empowering May to trigger Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty returns to parliament for its final stages.
The bill was held up earlier this month by amendments passed in the House of Lords, demanding guarantees for EU nationals’ rights and a parliamentary vote on the final withdrawal deal.
It could be signed into law by Queen Elizabeth as early as today, leaving May’s path clear to begin Brexit whenever she wants.
May has promised to trigger Article 50 by the end of this month, a timetable her spokesman said yesterday the government was firmly on track to achieve.
At a summit in Brussels last week, the prime minister said: “Our European partners have made clear to me that they want to get on with the negotiations, and so do I.”
Once May has notified the EU of her decision by letter, the other EU leaders will take just 48 hours to issue their first draft proposal for the negotiations.
A BMG survey for Scottish newspaper The Herald found that 56% were opposed to a new independence referendum before Brexit, and 52% said they were against Scotland seceding from the UK. – AFP