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Scotland parliament could block Brexit: First minister

Scotland's First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), Nicola Sturgeon, addresses the media after holding an emergency Cabinet meeting at Bute House in Edinburgh, Scotland on June 25, 2016. (photos by AFP)

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says she may ask the Scottish parliament to consider vetoing Brexit.

"If the Scottish Parliament was judging this on the basis of what's right for Scotland, then the option of saying 'We're not going to vote for something that is against Scotland's interests,' of course, that is on the table," she told state-run BBC on Sunday.

She was answering a question by the interviewer on whether she would consider advising the parliament to take such a measure.

"The issue you are talking about is would there have to be a legislative consent motion or motions for the legislation that extricates the UK from the European Union?”

A car adorned with St George's Cross flags passes a welcome sign as it crosses the border into Scotland near Berwick-upon-Tweed in northern England close to the border between England and Scotland on June 26, 2016. 

"Looking at it from a logical perspective, I find it hard to believe that there wouldn't be that requirement - I suspect that the UK government will take a very different view on that and we'll have to see where that discussion ends up."

On Thursday, 51.9 percent of Britons voted in favor of leaving the EU while 48.1 percent voted to remain in the bloc.

In Scotland, however, the majority voted in favor of remaining an EU member as 62 percent opposed Brexit and 38 percent backed it.

"My challenge now as first minister is to work out how I best protect Scotland's interests, how I try to prevent us being taken out of the EU against our will with all of the deeply damaging and painful consequences that that will entail," said the Scottish first minister.

Even if Scotland moves in that direction, the parliament is said not to have the authority to veto Brexit.

“Westminster might note such a verdict, no doubt with polite gratitude - then proceed to implement Brexit, exercising its over-riding sovereignty,” read the report by BBC.


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