“This election is most immediately about the need to steer the country safely through the rest of the pandemic,” Sturgeon said ahead of the vote. “But it is also about the longer term job of rebuilding and recovery that is needed, and who is best placed to lead that.”
Why is the Scottish National Party seeking independence?
Scotland has already had one independence referendum, in 2014, in which Scots voted by a margin of 55% to 45% to remain part of the United Kingdom. The British government agreed to hold that referendum after the SNP won a majority in the Scottish Parliament, calling it a “once in a generation” event.
But support for another referendum has steadily risen in the years since 2016, when the U.K. voted to leave the European Union, a move opposed by more than 62% of Scottish voters.
Scotland could be one step closer to becoming an independent country.
The British government has been forced to play defense on calls for a second Scottish independence referendum, after the country’s main nationalist party secured an emphatic victory in elections for its devolved parliament on Friday.
“The question of a referendum is now a matter of when, not if,” Scotland’s leader Nicola Sturgeon told British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on a phone call following the election results, her press office said in a statement.
But the power to grant Scotland an independence referendum lies in London, not Edinburgh, and Johnson pushed back against the idea on Saturday, calling it “irresponsible and reckless.”
So just how likely is a new Scottish independence referendum?
What were the results of the election in Scotland?
Together, pro-independence parties won a majority in the Scottish Parliament in elections on Friday.
Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party (SNP) won 64 seats, one more than at the previous election, but one short of an overall majority. The Scottish Greens, who also support independence, won eight seats.
In its pre-election manifesto, the SNP pledged to hold a new Scottish independence referendum “after the COVID crisis is over.”
Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty ImagesScottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon arrives back at Bute House after the SNP won a historic fourth term in government on May 09, 2021 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
“This election is most immediately about the need to steer the country safely through the rest of the pandemic,” Sturgeon said ahead of the vote. “But it is also about the longer term job of rebuilding and recovery that is needed, and who is best placed to lead that.”
Why is the Scottish National Party seeking independence?
Scotland has already had one independence referendum, in 2014, in which Scots voted by a margin of 55% to 45% to remain part of the United Kingdom. The British government agreed to hold that referendum after the SNP won a majority in the Scottish Parliament, calling it a “once in a generation” event.
But support for another referendum has steadily risen in the years since 2016, when the U.K. voted to leave the European Union, a move opposed by more than 62% of Scottish voters.
Read more: The U.K. Has Officially Left the European Union. But Could Scotland End Up Back in It?
After the Brexit referendum, the SNP argued that Scotland was being pulled out of the E.U. against its will and that this …read more
Source:: Time – World
