Scotland’s first minister has told British prime minister Boris Johnson that a second vote on Scottish independence is a matter of “when, not if” in the wake of her party’s election victory over the weekend.
Although falling just short of securing a majority of seats in the country’s parliamentary elections, Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon has insisted that holding a vote on independence from the UK is the “will of the people”.
The SNP and Greens, both supportive of Scottish independence, do combine to make up a majority of parliamentarians in favour of leaving the union following the elections, with Sturgeon telling Boris Johnson that the people of Scotland “can choose our own future” when the Covid-19 crisis subsides.
“The first minister made clear that her immediate focus was on steering the country through COVID and into recovery, and that a newly elected Scottish government would work with the UK government as far as possible on that aim,” a spokesman for Sturgeon said.
“The first minister also reiterated her intention to ensure that the people of Scotland can choose our own future when the crisis is over, and made clear that the question of a referendum is now a matter of when, not if.”
In a statement released following the final results, Downing Street congratulated Sturgeon on winning “the largest number of seats in the Scottish Parliament” and “concluded by emphasising the importance of focusing on COVID recovery at this time”.
The Scottish Greens, who won eight seats in their best ever election performance, are expected to form a pro-independence government with the SNP, who secured 64 MSP seats.
The Conservative party and Labour secured 31 and 22 seats respectively, in what will be seen by many in Downing Street as a further indication that there is indeed popular support for another poll on independence.
Sturgeon says the timing of a referendum should be decided by a simple majority of MSPs and that, rather than describing such a vote as a demand of just the SNP or first minister, the people of Scotland had shown another independence vote was the “will of the people” with the weekend’s results.