Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has written to Prime Minister Theresa May, formally demanding that she allow a second referendum to be held on Scottish independence, ahead of the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union.
The results of the June 2016 Brexit referendum called the country's future into question, because England and Wales voted to leave the EU, while Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to stay.
Scotland's devolved parliament on Tuesday voted to hold a referendum on secession in 2018 or 2019, but the UK government in Westminster must give its approval before any such poll can he held.
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 29, 2017. /CFP Photo
Having gained the mandate from the Scottish Assembly, Sturgeon has penned a letter to May to formally request she begins talks on facilitating the vote, something the UK government has already said it would reject.
On its Twitter feed, the Scottish government posted a picture of Sturgeon in a relaxed pose on a sofa with the message: "First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in Bute House, Edinburgh, working on final draft of Section 30 letter to Prime Minister Theresa May."
A Section 30 order is the formal mechanism by which the UK government would temporarily hand power to the Scottish Assembly to organize a referendum.
British Prime Minister Theresa May in the cabinet office signs the official letter to European Council President Donald Tusk, invoking Article 50 and the United Kingdom's intention to leave the EU on March 28, 2017 in London, England. /CFP Photo
Earlier, Sturgeon said Scotland was being forced into a "hard Brexit" that it didn't vote for. Britons decided in a June 23 referendum to leave the EU, but Scots voted by 62 to 38 percent to remain. As a result, she would move quickly to give voters a new chance to leave the UK.
May has said it was not the right time for another referendum, as the complex two-year divorce talks between the UK, the world's fifth-largest economy, and its 27 EU partners get underway.
(Source: Reuters, CBC News)
