Scotland wants to vote for independence post-Brexit

The Dollar Business Bureau

As UK gears up to expedite Brexit negotiations with the European Union, Scotland sought a second independence referendum in late 2018 or early 2019 to exit from the UK.

On Monday the British parliament cleared the Brexit bill, paving the way for Article 50 to be triggered.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Monday as soon as the Brexit negotiations become a bit clear, she planned to begin the legal process of holding a similar independence referendum for Scots.

Speaking to the reporters in Edinburgh, Sturgeon said: “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.”

Her remarks drew instant attention from Irish leaders, as Northern Ireland's largest Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein said Scotland wanted a referendum on separating from the UK "as soon as possible".

"Brexit will be a disaster for the economy and a disaster for the people of Ireland. A referendum on Irish unity has to happen as soon as possible," Sinn Fein's leader in Northern Ireland Michelle O'Neill told reporters in Belfast.

Sturgeon, the leader of Edinburgh's pro-independence decentralized government, stressed she would seek next week permissions from the Scottish Parliament to discuss with the British government the details to enable a second referendum. She said the Scottish parliament would decide the detailed arrangements and timing for its referendum.

Scotland had held a similar referendum in September 2014, but the Scotts rejected independence by 55-45%. However, Sturgeon's Scottish National Party has been able to gather tremendous support from the Scots since then.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May has never been in favour of Scotland’s holding a similar style referendum. She has in past accused Sturgeon's Scottish National Party of being independence-obsessed, overlooking and sacrificing Scotland's economic and diplomatic interests.

"Instead of playing politics with the future of our country, the Scottish government should focus on delivering good government and public services for the people of Scotland. Politics is not a game," she had said.

Meanwhile, both the EU and Nato (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) warned Scotland that if the country votes for independence it will automatically lose membership and will have to apply again.