Sick of Brexit, Scotland’s leader Nicola Sturgeon vows to hold new independence vote in 2020

Sturgeon has often campaigned for secession on grounds that Scotland is being taken out of EU against its wishes

Scots rejected leaving UK in 2014 referendum, though Brexit has since boosted pro-independence sentiment

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First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon waves after delivering her keynote speech during the SNP autumn conference in Aberdeen on Tuesday. Photo: dpa

Published: 1:53am, 16 Oct 2019Updated: 3:09am, 16 Oct 2019

Scotland must hold another independence referendum in 2020 and will soon request the powers needed to authorise it, Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon said on Tuesday.

Scots rejected independence in a referendum in 2014 but the SNP says that Britain’s vote to leave the European Union fundamentally changes its constitutional arrangements and means that the independence question should be revisited.

Sturgeon, who is also Scotland’s First Minister, said she was “sick of Brexit” and that the United Kingdom was a broken political system that imposed policies on Scotland against its will.

Britain as a whole voted in 2016 to leave the European Union but Scotland voted to remain, and Sturgeon has often campaigned for secession on the grounds that the country is now being taken out of the EU against its wishes.

People marching for Scottish independence in the streets of Edinburgh on October 5. Photo: EPA-EFE

Opinion polls show Brexit has slightly boosted the pro-independence vote but suggest it is still only around 50 per cent.

Speaking at the SNP’s annual conference in Aberdeen, Sturgeon said: “It is time for Scotland to choose our own future. It is time to reclaim our independence.