Scottish leader: ‘Common sense’ says 2018 independence vote
LONDON — Scotland’s pro-independence leader says the country could make a second bid for independence within 18 months to avoid being dragged out of the European Union with the rest of the United Kingdom.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said in comments broadcast Thursday that fall 2018 is “the common sense time” to hold a referendum, “if that is the road we choose to go down.”
She insisted that no decision has been made about whether to ask Scottish voters for a mandate for independence.
Sturgeon, who leads the pro-independence Scottish National Party, has complained bitterly about Britain’s decision to withdraw from the European Union. Overall, Britain voted by a margin of 52 to 48 per cent last year to quit the 28-nation bloc — but voters in Scotland voted by 62 per cent to 38 per cent to stay in.