Scotland's Sturgeon says she wants independence vote early in next parliament

[LONDON] Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Monday declined to rule out a new vote for Scottish independence next year, saying that she wanted to see a referendum held in the early part of the next devolved parliament.

Scots rejected independence in 2014 but Brexit and the British government's handling of the Covid-19 crisis have bolstered support for secession and most polls show a majority now favour breaking up the United Kingdom.

Elections to Scotland's devolved parliament will take place in May, and Sturgeon's Scottish National Party (SNP) is expected to perform strongly which it argues would be a mandate for another independence referendum.

"I want to see it in the early part of the next term of the Scottish parliament rather than the later part," Ms Sturgeon told Sky News, declining to rule out a possible vote in autumn 2021.

"I'm not ruling anything out, I'm not ruling anything in,"she said. "I'm clear that I think for all the reasons I've set out, the sooner Scotland can have the powers of independence so we chart our own future, the better it will be for all of us." British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the 2014 vote in which Scots voted 55-45 percent against independence was decisive and a once in a generation event, so should be respected. His government says there should not be another independence referendum in the near future.

"I think as we rebuild from Covid it's really important that we have all of the tools and the powers to do that properly and that the country we're rebuilding is the one that a majority of Scots want to see, not one in the image of Boris Johnson and his band of Brexiteers," Ms Sturgeon said.

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While the United Kingdom as whole voted 52-48 to leave the European Union in a 2016 referendum, a clear majority of Scots voted to remain.

REUTERS