Nicola Sturgeon has offered “to negotiate” with Boris Johnson over a Scottish independence referendum.
The Scottish First Minister said she was confident that she could stage a legal ballot which the Prime Minister has steadfastly refused to concede.
Launching her new prospectus for an independence referendum in this Scottish parliament term, Sturgeon insisted there is an “indisputable mandate” for a second independence referendum in the SNP-Green majority at Holyrood.
At a Bute House press conference to launch a new prospectus for independence the SNP leader made a direct offer of talks to the UK Prime Minister, while not detailing what her legal alternative would be if she is rejected again.
She said: “I don’t know whether he will be watching or not, but if he is, I make it clear again Prime Minister, I stand ready to negotiate a section 30 order if you decide that, you now are a democrat.”
“I have to see the evidence of that up to date is not promising, but I’ll say to what we do in those circumstances if he continues to deny democracy very soon.”
“I’ve said I will set out a lawful way forward without a section 30 is if that is what is required.”
Sturgeon added: “The other thing that I think is pertinent here is that we have a UK Government that does not respect democracy and does not respect the rule of law. We saw that very powerfully as recently as yesterday.”
“Ultimately, while I think it would be better for the people of Scotland and the people of the UK if we had two governments able to sit down on that democratic basis and agree that we disagree on the substance of independence but agree the process by which the people of Scotland would decide, that would be far better.”
“But I do believe that the problem of having a democracy-denying UK Government and Prime Minister ultimately is their problem much more than it is mine.”
“It actually becomes one of the powerful arguments for Scotland becoming an independent country where democracy and the rule of law are again the fundamental principles that underpin everything that we do.”
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