Scotland presses for a new referendum on independence

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Head of the regional government of Scotland Sturgeon sent a letter to London demanding permission to hold a referendum. Scotland does not want to remain part of the UK in connection with the Brexit, she explained. Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon in the letter to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson formally requested permission to hold a fresh referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom. “Democracy must and will prevail,” Sturgeon told reporters in Edinburgh on Thursday, December 19. According to the First Minister of Scotland, Scots made it clear that they reject the Tory government led by Prime Minister Johnson, who is removing Scotland from the European Union. In this regard, Sturgeon recalled that as a result of last week’s British parliamentary elections, her Scottish National Party, seeking independence from Britain, drastically strengthened its position, gaining 48 out of 59 seats in the Scottish Parliament. What will London say? Whether a new Scottish independence referendum will take place or not depends on London’s consent. Johnson has repeatedly dismissed relevant requests of Sturgeon, who wants to hold a new referendum as early as 2020. In the first referendum in 2014, 55 percent of Scots spoke out against independence. Sturgeon, however, emphasizes that circumstances have changed significantly since then: in 2016, a small majority of British people voted for Brexit. At the same time, 62 percent of Scots spoke out against Brexit. DW