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Scottish MPs expected to support new independence referendum

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (center right) speaks in the chamber on the first day of the 'Scotland's Choice' debate on a motion to seek the authority to hold an independence referendum at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh on March 21, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The Scottish parliament is expected to support Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on her bid to hold a new independence referendum.

The vote is planned on Wednesday following a two-day debate which was being held despite opposition from London. 

“For the UK Government to stand in the way of Scotland even having a choice would be, in my view, wrong, unfair and utterly unsustainable,” Sturgeon said on Tuesday.

She added that any attempt to block an independence referendum shows British Prime Minister Theresa May fears the verdict of the Scottish people.

“They are now terrified of the verdict of the Scottish people,” she told her supporters in the city of Aberdeen.

May rejected Sturgeon’s call for a second independence referendum last week. She suggested a re-run could be as little as 18 months away, and by Spring 2019 at the latest, before Britain leaves the European Union.

The UK expects to invoke Article 50 of the EU Treaty, the mechanism for starting the Brexit process.The United Kingdom held a referendum in last June in which Britons voted by a 52-48 percent margin to leave the EU, the first member state ever to do so.

The Scottish lawmakers’ backing allows Sturgeon to renew her call. This is while in a referendum back in June 2014, 55 percent of Scottish people backed staying in the UK.

But according to the Scottish National Party (SNP), the political landscape has dramatically changed since then and that the former vote was based on expectations that the UK would remain in the EU.

On Friday, May accused the SNP of “divisive and obsessive nationalism” and defended the “precious, precious union” of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Scottish voters were swayed to remain part of Britain in 2014 due to the economic uncertainty they felt would come with independence.

This file photo taken on July 15, 2016 shows Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May (L) being greeted by Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (R) as she arrives for talks at Bute House, in Edinburgh. (Photo by AFP)

However, Sturgeon has warned that leaving Europe’s single market will cause tens of thousands of job losses in Scotland.

The Scottish government wants another vote amid Britain’s bid to leave the European Union.

Edinburgh says that Scotland should not be dragged out of the EU while majority of people there voted against Brexit.

“Scotland should not be dragged out of Europe by a Tory government intent on a disastrous hard Brexit.” Sturgeon said.

The largest Irish nationalist party, Sinn Fein, has also called for a referendum on splitting from the United Kingdom and uniting with the Republic of Ireland "as soon as possible."


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