ANI
24 Nov 2022, 09:55 GMT+10
London [UK], November 24 (ANI): The UK Supreme Court on Wednesday (local time) blocked the Scottish parliament from holding an independence vote.
The court unanimously rejected an attempt by the Scottish National Party (SNP) to force a vote next October, as it did not have the approval of Britain's parliament, reported CNN.
The move will likely anger Scottish nationalists who say the country's future is for Scottish voters to decide.
Scotland last held a vote on the issue, with Westminster's approval, in 2014, when voters rejected the prospect of independence by 55 per cent to 45 per cent, reported CNN.
The pro-independence SNP has nonetheless dominated politics north of the border in the intervening years, at the expense of the traditional, pro-union groups. Successive SNP leaders have pledged to give Scottish voters another chance to vote, particularly since the UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016.
The latest push by SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon involved holding an advisory referendum late next year, similar to the 2016 poll that resulted in Brexit. But the country's top court agreed that even a non-legally binding vote would require oversight from Westminster, given its practical implications, reported CNN.
Sturgeon said she accepted the ruling, but tried to frame the decision as another pillar in the argument for secession.
"A law that doesn't allow Scotland to choose our own future without Westminster consent exposes as myth any notion of the UK as a voluntary partnershipmakes (a) case" for independence," she wrote on Twitter.
She accused the British government of "outright democracy denial" in a speech to reporters, reported CNN.
Sturgeon said her next step in her effort to achieve a vote will be to brand the next British general election - scheduled for January 2025 at the latest - as a proxy referendum in Scotland on which course to take.
Meanwhile, UK's new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak heralded the court's "clear and definitive ruling" as an opportunity to move on from the independence debate, reported CNN.
"The people of Scotland want us to be working on fixing the major challenges that we collectively face, whether that's the economy, supporting the NHS or indeed supporting Ukraine," he said in Parliament.
Opinion polls suggest that Scots remain narrowly divided on whether to break from the UK, and that a clear consensus in either direction has yet to emerge.
England and Scotland have been joined in a political union since 1707, but many Scots have long bristled at what they consider a one-sided relationship dominated by England. Scottish voters have historically rejected the ruling Conservative Party at the ballot box and voted heavily - but in vain - against Brexit, intensifying arguments over the issue in the past decade.
Since 1999, Scotland has had a devolved government, meaning many, but not all, decisions are made at the SNP-led Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh. (ANI)
Get a daily dose of Europe Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Europe Sun.
More InformationWASHINGTON DC - In a major blow to U.S. President Joe Biden, less that a year out from the November ...
TOKYO, Japan: This week, the U.S. Air Force said that divers have discovered the wreckage and the remains of five ...
VANDENBERG, California: South Korea successfully launched its inaugural military spy satellite, following North Korea's recent claim of deploying its own ...
JAKARTA, Indonesia: The death toll from the eruption of Indonesia's Marapi volcano surged to 22 as rescuers discovered additional climbers ...
In September, Tamir Pardo, who headed the Mossad, Israel's national intelligence agency, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from 2011 to ...
HONOLULU, Hawaii: U.S. Navy officials say that it would cost some $1.5 million to salvage a P-8A jet plane that ...
NEW YORK: This week, ratings agency Moody's warned that it could downgrade China's credit rating, citing costs to bail out ...
NEW YORK, New York - AI set the scene for solid gains in technology shares on Thursday. Demand for Alphabet ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: To help reduce car collisions with wildlife and help animals safely cross roadways, the U.S. Transportation Department has ...
BRUSSELS, Belgium: To address power shortages at electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, last week, the European Commission announced plans to ...
BEIJING, China: Falling hog prices, mounting losses and rising debt are putting pressure on the biggest pig breeders in China, ...
NEW YORK, New York - A decline in labor costs as measured by ADP failed to boost U.S. Markets Wednesday."ADP's ...