Condemning the United Kingdom government’s refusal to guarantee the status of European Union citizens living in the United Kingdom as “disgraceful”, Sturgeon told the public meeting at Edinburgh’s Corn Exchange on Wednesday morning: “You’re not bargaining chips, you are human beings with families, jobs, friends and lives here”.
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In an emotional address, Sturgeon said it was “disgraceful” that the United Kingdom government has not yet guaranteed that those living here will be able to stay in the country, and insisted that prime minister Theresa May was using them as “bargaining chips”.
Although the audience of European Union nationals gave Sturgeon a warm reception and applauded mentions of Scotland becoming independent, one pro-EU member of the crowd from Northern Ireland lambasted the first minister for “sneering” at British people and directing “false smiles” towards European Union nationals.
“You have done us the privilege of making Scotland your home”, she said. “I’ll look very carefully at the arguments about that and will give further thought to how we can address the issue”.
Sturgeon replied that she will always vilify people who judge others on the basis of their nationalities, but insisted she wasn’t causing more division by raising the prospect of a second Scottish independence referendum on the morning after it became clear the United Kingdom had voted to leave the EU.
However, she has said she is also looking at options to keep Scotland both inside the United Kingdom and in the EU.
“However, I can and I will continue to argue strongly that such a guarantee should be given without any further delay by the United Kingdom government”.
She said she could have called a second independence referendum immediately after the Brexit vote, but had chosen instead to look at all options to secure Scotland’s future in Europe. The UK Government has said it is unable to give such assurances until the rights of British nationals living overseas are confirmed.
“It really breaks my heart that as First Minster, as the elected leader of this country, I am not able to sit here and give you the guarantees and the certainty that you want”, Ms Sturgeon told the audience. People living here and trying to get on with their lives here should not suddenly have this question mark over their future, and the UK Government could at the stroke of a pen, today if it chose to, put an end to this uncertainty. “End this uncertainty, end it now, do the humane thing”.
Ms Sturgeon is not yet ready to decide when, or if, she will hold another vote on independence.
Ms Sturgeon said she thought it “disgraceful” that the United Kingdom government had not given any guarantees about the future for EU citizens living in all parts of the United Kingdom, arguing that European nationals are being used as bargaining chips in Brexit negotiations.
Patrick Harkness, 35, an academic at the University of Glasgow originally from Tyrone in Northern Ireland, accused Ms Sturgeon of “building a cold house” in Scotland by “sneering” at British people through her talk of another independence referendum.
She added: ‘I think it is unthinkable that people living here would be asked to leave.
Speaking at an event in Hawick, Sturgeon said: “I don’t want to see a hard border between Scotland and England, any more than people in Ireland want to see a hard border between the north and south”.
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Scotland’s First Minister said there is no reason for anyone to suggest border posts are “inevitable” – particularly after Prime Minister Theresa May indicated she wants to maintain an open border with the Republic of Ireland.
