Tories taking wrecking ball to UK, says Sturgeon

Scotland’s first minister said that a Conservative Government is seeking to deny the “democratic right” of people in Scotland to choose their own future.

Tomorrow Ms Sturgeon will outline her plans for holding a second referendum on Scotland’s future in the UK to the Scottish Parliament.

She said that the case for a referendum is “now as much a Scottish democracy movement as a Scottish independence movement”.

The first minister has said she intends the vote to be held in October 2023, however, there are significant barriers in the way as the Westminster government is unlikely to approve the plans.

Ms Sturgeon said: “Westminster is taking a wrecking ball to the idea of the United Kingdom as a voluntary partnership of nations.

“A Tory government with just six MPs from Scotland, supported on this issue by Labour, is seeking to deny the democratic right of the people of Scotland to choose their own future.

“In doing so they are demonstrating beyond doubt that in place of a voluntary partnership they believe the UK is instead defined by Westminster control.

“The case for a referendum is therefore now as much a Scottish democracy movement as a Scottish independence movement.”

A section 30 order, a clause in the Scotland Act which would grant a legal referendum, is required for a referendum but the UK government has repeatedly rejected requests for one.

Ms Sturgeon said that even previous Tory leaders from Margaret Thatcher to Theresa May said they believed the UK was based on the consent of the people who lived in its constituent nations.