In response to Sturgeon’s announcement, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said the first minister was ignoring the job of governing in Scotland in order to “pursue her own narrow nationalist agenda”.
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While she accepted that opting to leave the United Kingdom “would be a big decision”, the First Minister said: “I believe it is right that our party does now lead a new conversation on independence”.
The SNP wants to find out why people voted against independence in 2014 and what new offer might persuade them to back it in future.
A 62-percent majority of Scottish voters had opted to remain in the European Union, putting Scotland at odds with England, which voted to stay.
Referring to last week’s government expenditure and revenue Scotland figures – which revealed a deficit of almost £15m – as “not a verdict on independence but an indictment of generations of Westminster government”, she announced a new party growth commission, chaired by the former MSP Andrew Wilson.
Sturgeon, who heads the pro-independence Scottish National Party, has said Brexit will force Scotland to leave not only the European Union but also the single market, and that she is not prepared to wait and see what will happen without putting up a fight. While the 2014 poll ended tight in favor of remaining part of the UK, Ms Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party is in favor of seceding.
Last year, Sturgeon described as crass the cover of the New Statesman magazine that portrayed her and other female politicians who do not have children, including Theresa May and Angela Merkel, standing around a cot with a ballot box inside.
Ms Sturgeon said all polls since then had shown increased support for independence and added: “I suspect support for independence will be even higher if it becomes clear it is the best or only way to protect our interests”.
“Sometimes, for whatever reason, having a baby just doesn’t happen – no matter how much we might want it to”. She said: “Just yesterday, David Davis made a speech in Belfast. that Brexit would not mean the end of the common travel area with independent Ireland, that it would not lead to a hard border between the north and south of Ireland and it would not result in barriers to trade”.
Her spokesman said that the programme for government would be about domestic issues, but that Europe would be a “common theme running through everything we do” going forward.
The Scottish Government is to focus on boosting the economy in the wake of the Brexit vote, with Nicola Sturgeon promising £4 billion will be spent on infrastructure next year alongside a £500 million package of support for private businesses.
Scottish Conservative chief whip John Lamont MSP said: “Nicola Sturgeon says she want to listen to the people of Scotland”.
Another referendum is unlikely this side of the 2021 Scottish parliament elections, he said.
“This summer, we witnessed seismic changes, which will have a deep impact on our ambition for this country”, Ms Sturgeon told an SNP gathering in Stirling.
However, she added: “Of course, many copies of Scotland’s Future were signed and handed out in the run-up to the 2014 referendum”.
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The party has also urged ministers to address what it called the housing “crisis”, saying official figures show the budget for housing and community amenities has been cut by £338 million since Ms Sturgeon became First Minister.
