Call for New Scottish Independence Referendum

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Monday demanded a new Scottish independence referendum to be held in late 2018 or early 2019, once the terms of Britain’s exit from the European Union have become clear.

“If Scotland is to have a real choice-when the terms of Brexit are known but before it is too late to choose our own course-then that choice must be offered between the autumn of next year, 2018, and the spring of 2019,” Sturgeon, who heads Scotland’s pro-independence devolved government, told reporters, France24 reported. The prospect of an independence vote in Scotland that could rip apart the United Kingdom just months before an EU exit would add a tumultuous twist to Brexit with uncertain consequences for the world’s fifth-largest economy.

Sturgeon has called for Scotland to be allowed to strike its own deal with the EU but on Monday she said her efforts had hit a “brick wall” in London.

The results of the June 23 Brexit referendum called the future of the UK into question because England and Wales voted to leave the EU but Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to stay.