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”.
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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.
She will launch her renewed drive for independence at an event in Stirling, where William Wallace won a historic battle against the English in 1297.
Scotland voted 62 percent to 38 to remain in the European Union in the June 23 Brexit referendum, putting it at odds with Britain as a whole which voted to leave.
The party will have a deep trove of information on which to base its next steps by the time the shape of the Brexit negotiations in London and Brussels become clearer.
As a result, she said her programme for government “makes clear that we will consult on a draft Referendum Bill, so that it is ready for immediate introduction if we conclude that independence is the best or only way to protect Scotland’s interests”.
She went on to accuse the Conservatives of making “high handed, arrogant comments.that Scotland should know her place, that Westminster is boss, we’ll simply have to like it or lump it, whatever is decided”. “Only with independence can we realise our true potential and build a better future for our communities”. “Ireland-reconsider-ties-to-Britain” class=”local_link” target=”_blank”>writing legislation for another independence vote, prior to the seismic Brexit vote.
Ms Sturgeon’s speech comes almost two years on from the September 2014 referendum which saw Scots vote by 55% to 45% in favour or remaining in the UK.
Scottish Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats have vowed to veto such a move, which means her minority government would rely on the Scottish Greens to get it through.
The Labour politician added: “The SNP government’s own figures should act as a reality check for those calling for another independence referendum”.
“It is disappointing that, days before laying a legislative agenda before the most powerful Scottish Parliament ever, the SNP are determined to drag us back to the arguments of the past”. Sturgeon has pledged to explore all of the options for securing Scotland’s status in Europe – including, if necessary, another vote on independence.
The SNP leader has revealed how she and husband Peter Murrell, the party’s chief executive, lost a baby when she was 40, shortly before the 2011 Scottish parliamentary election campaign spell, when she was deputy leader.
Now, just two years later, despite putting her signature on the agreement, as well as losing her majority in the Scottish parliament and even her own mother resigning from her SNP mayor’s role, Ms Sturgeon is going back on her word.
In extracts from the book in The Sunday Times Magazine, Ms Sturgeon said she is uncertain if she could have been a mother as well as leading Scotland’s devolved government.
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She added: “For me, as for many women, all of these things have been true at different times of my life – the point is that judgements and assumptions shouldn’t be made about what are personal choices and experiences”.
