Independence is ‘never off table’

SCOTTISH independence will never be off the table and Brexit has strengthened the argument for separation, according to Nicola Sturgeon.

The First Minister has claimed that an independent Scotland is both democratically and economically more appealing to voters now the UK is leaving the EU.

But opponents hit out at the SNP leader, saying she had ‘let the mask slip’ over her plans to continue pushing for a second independence referendum – and using Brexit to do it. Miss Sturgeon addressed business and finance bosses at a Thomson Reuters event in London on Monday where she confirmed her continued push for another vote on the Union.

She also spoke about the SNP’s Growth Commission which is due to report within weeks on what currency an independent Scotland would use. Miss Sturgeon has said she will set out her plans on a second referendum this autumn after the details of the country’s Brexit deal emerge, adding: ‘I don’t think independence is off the table.

‘I don’t think it will ever be off the table until it’s realised, and then it will be a reality.’

Scottish Tory MSP Maurice Golden said: ‘For her, it will only ever be about one thing. This tunnel vision has been damaging to Scotland, which continues to pay the price for a constitution obsessed SNP government .’