NICOLA Sturgeon hardened her stance on a second Scottish independence referendum ahead of today’s General Election.
She warned her party could with the Scottish National partys support from a Labour budget if Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister failed to give Holyrood the powers needed to hold an independence referendum in 2020.
Sturgeonhas pushed repeatedly for a second vote on Scottish independence
In a further toughening of her stance, Sturgeon said she would offer SNP support to a Labour minority government only if it accepted the principle that it is for Holyrood to decide the timing of the second referendum.
Here’s what we know about IndyRef2 and what the Scottish First Minister has said about it.
Will there be a second Scottish Independence referendum?
Sturgeon has long been campaigning for a second Scottish indyref, especially following the UK’s vote to leave the EU.
But after the SNP lost 21 seats in the last General Election,the SNP boss has been reflecting on her plans for a second vote when she saw her partys share of the vote fall from 50 per cent to 37 per cent.
A recent survey found Scots continue to be split right down the middle on independence.
The research by Survation has found 46% of Scots support going it alone, with 47.3% opposed.
If you remove undecideds from the figures it means 49.3% of Scots would now vote Yes up from 44.7% in the historic ballot in September 2014.
Ms Sturgeon insists she intends to hold another vote next year although the UK Government say they will block it.
The poll, which saw more than 1000 Scots surveyed by phone on Tuesday and Wednesday, found just 50.7% of Scots would now vote No.
Didn’t Scotland already vote to stay?
Yes, they did, by a tight margin of 55 per cent to 45 per cent but then Brexit happenedwith Wales and England voting for it and not the majority of Scots.
A majority of 63 per cent voted to Remain in the EU during last years referendum.
In their manifesto last May, the SNP promised “the Scottish Parliament should have the right to hold another referendum… if there is a significant and material change in the circumstances that prevailed in 2014, such as Scotland being taken out of the EU against our will”.
What has Nicola Sturgeon said about a second Brexit referendum?
The First Minister has also linked the second independence referendum to a re-run of the Brexit poll.
Speaking at the SNPs annual conference, the First Minister said she would expect her 35 MPs to get behind a vote on the final EU divorce deal if proposed in the Commons.
But she warned she would seek assurances that Scotlands decision would be respected.
If the UK once again voted to leave but a majority of Scots chose to remain – as they did in in the first Brexit poll – then that would be the cue for a second independence referendum.
She described indy as inevitable after as a Survation poll revealed by The Scottish Sun on Sunday suggested a 52/48 Yes/No split in the event of No Deal.
According to William Hill, the odds are 6/4 that there will be another Scottish independence vote before 2020.
