Dear PM, you’ve Scot to give us referendum
Sturgeon fires off her demand letter PEOPLE MUST MAKE CHOICE
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon issued a formal demand for a new referendum on Scottish independence yesterday.
Scotland’s First Minister dispatched a letter to PM Theresa May requesting a Section 30 order – the powers needed to hold a new vote.
And Ms Sturgeon insisted there was “no rational reason” for Westminster to block the bid.
In a video message posted by the ® Scottish Government on Twitter, she said: “The next two years are hugely important for Scotland because they will determine the kind of country we’ll become.
“That’s why I have today written to the UK Government to ensure that we can make that choice when the time is right to accept Brexit or instead become an independent country.
“I don’t take for granted how people would vote when that choice comes, but I hope we can all agree that the future of our country is our choice.”
MSPs voted by 69 to 59 this week in favour of seeking permission for an independence referendum to take place between autumn 2018 and spring 2019.
But the UK Government has said it will decline the request, with Mrs May repeatedly stating that “now is not the time” for another vote on the issue.
Ms Sturgeon said leaving the EU and the single market would have “enormous implications” for schools, hospitals, jobs and investment in Scotland.
She added: “The Prime Minister has indicated that she intends to ignore the will of the Scottish Parliament and prevent people in Scotland having that choice.
“If the Westminster government continues to hold that line, it will go against the very foundations of devolution.”
About 62% of Scottish voters backed “Remain” in the EU referendum last June.
The SNP argues that the Brexit decision is a “material change in circumstances” from the previous independence vote in 2014.