Andy Buchanan – WPA Pool /Getty Images(EDINBURGH, Scotland) — Scotland’s parliament has backed First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s call for a second referendum on independence for the country.
Members of Scottish parliament voted to ask the British government for a referendum before the U.K. leaves the European Union with 69 votes to 59.
Last year when the U.K. voted in a referendum to leave the EU, Scots largely voted to remain.
In a 2014 referendum for Scottish independence, Scots rejected independence, but Sturgeon believes that Brexit has changed matters and people should be able to vote again.
British Prime Minister Theresa May has said “now is not the time” for a referendum, according to the BBC, and she will not allow another vote until the Brexit process has been completed and Scots can see the U.K.’s new relationship with the EU.
Sturgeon argued: “When the nature of the change that is made inevitable by Brexit becomes clear, that change should not be imposed upon us, we should have the right to decide the nature of that change.
“The people of Scotland should have the right to choose between Brexit – possibly a very hard Brexit – or becoming an independent country, able to chart our own course and create a true partnership of equals across these islands.”
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
