Nicola Sturgeon says election has ‘strengthened’ mandate for Scottish independence vote
Boris Johnson has ‘no right’ to take Scotland out of the EU against its will, says SNP first minister
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Your support makes all the difference.Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon has claimed her party’s strong performance has given her a “renewed, refreshed, strengthened” mandate for an early referendum on independence from the United Kingdom.
Ms Sturgeon said that prime minister Boris Johnson has “no right” to take Scotland out of the EU against its will or to block an “IndyRef2” by declining her request for a public vote.
Mr Johnson has made clear that he does not intend to grant permission for the Scottish government to call a referendum as required by Section 30 of the 1998 Scotland Act.
The SNP looked set to achieve a near clean sweep of the 59 seats north of the border, unseating Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson in East Dunbartonshire and winning Renfrewshire East, Ochil & South Perthshire and Angus from Tories as well as Glasgow North East, Midlothian, East Lothian and Rutherglen & Hamilton West from Labour.
The Scottish first minister – who is demanding a second independence referendum during 2020 – said: “There has been a strong endorsement in this election of Scotland having a choice over our future, not having to put up with a Conservative government that we didn’t vote for and not having to accept life as a nation outside the European Union.
“So that independence referendum that was very much at the heart of the SNP’s campaign, there is a renewed, refreshed, strengthened mandate for that.
“Just as I reluctantly accept that Boris Johnson now has a mandate to take England out of the EU, he must accept that we have a mandate to offer a choice of an alternative future.”
Ms Sturgeon said that the Scottish Conservatives had lost votes and seats after putting opposition to a referendum at the heart of their campaign.
“Boris Johnson’s argument in this election in Scotland has been flatly and completely rejected,” she said.
“There is no doubt that I have a mandate to offer people that choice and then it is up to people in Scotland to decide what choice they make.
“Boris Johnson has no right to take Scotland out of the EU and he has no right to block the Scottish people choosing their own future.”
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