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Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is seeking another vote on Scottish independence, coming possibly as soon as late 2018:
In a bombshell announcement Monday, Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon told reporters in Edinburgh that she will seek the authority to hold a second independence referendum for Scotland. Citing a "brick wall of intransigence" from British Prime Minister Theresa May, Sturgeon asserted that the only way to preserve Scottish interests in the midst of the U.K. exit from the European Union is to put matters directly in the hands of Scottish voters.
"What Scotland deserves, in the light of the material change of circumstances brought about by the Brexit vote, is the chance to decide our future in a fair, free and democratic way — and at a time when we are equipped with the facts we need," the Scottish first minister and head of the Scottish National Party said in prepared remarks. "Whatever path we take, it should be one decided by us, not for us."
Next week, she will seek a section 30 order from the Scottish Parliament to begin the referendum process — which the U.K. Parliament in Westminster ultimately must approve. If all goes as planned, Sturgeon expects that a vote would be held in the fall of 2018 or spring of 2019, after terms of a Brexit deal worked out by the U.K. and the EU become clear.
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Tuesday March 14 2017, @04:36PM (1 child)
What sort of democracy keeps reasking the same question until the political class gets the desired results?
True, but in this case, the pro-union campaign during the last independence referendum screwed the pooch by using "If you split from the UK you'll have to re-negotiate Scottish membership of the EU - and Spain etc. will block you because they don't want to give those pesky Basques and Catalans ideas!" as one of their arguments. Then, a year later, we decide to leave the EU, despite a solid majority in Scotland voting remain.
So, Sturgeon and co. have been handed a pretty solid excuse to argue that there has been a significant change in circumstances since the last referendum. Plus the pro-independence SNP received a pretty clear mandate in the Scottish parliament in the general election following the indyref.
That's the trouble with democracy - on any nontrivial issue there's never a fair way to count the votes.
Of course, if the Brexit vote had gone 51-49 in favour of remain, UKIP and the leave supporters would have happily accepted the result... and if you believe that I have a bridge across the river Forth that you might like to buy. It's worth remembering that the "Wah! We want a do-over! It should have been 2/3 majority!" petition was started by a Leave supporter before the referendum. [huffingtonpost.co.uk].
(Score: 1) by purple_cobra on Saturday March 18 2017, @11:47PM
Wasn't it Farage who said that if the result came out as 52/48 to remain then UKIP would be agitating for a new referendum as they wouldn't consider it settled?