Nicola Sturgeon has branded Theresa May's government "undemocratic" after the Prime Minister ruled out a second independence referendum before Brexit.
In a series of messages on Twitter, the First Minister condemned Ms May for blocking "Scotland's right to choose" its destiny insisting her administration had a "clear mandate" to call a vote on the constitutional question.
And she claimed the “Tories fear the verdict of the Scottish people”.
READ MORE: Prime Minister Theresa May rules out second Scottish independence referendum before Brexit
The First Minister closed by tweeting: "One last point - if PM thinks we won't know terms of Brexit by autumn next year, she must think her own timetable will fail."
Ms Sturgeon's online comments come less than two hours after Theresa May moved to block a second Scottish independence referendum before Brexit insisting:" Now is not the time."
4/4 this would be undemocratic given @scotgov clear mandate and also proof positive that the Tories fear the verdict of the Scottish people.
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) March 16, 2017
She added that it would be "unfair to the people of Scotland who would be asked to make a crucial decision, without the information to make that decision".
She added that with the UK facing exit talks with the European Union that: "Right now we should be working together not pulling apart”.
The Scotland Act 1998 – which created a Scottish Parliament with the power to make laws on some issues – itself does not devolve power to the Scottish Parliament to legislate and authorise an independence referendum.
READ MORE: Iain Macwhirter: May should ponder the wisdom of Sturgeon’s timetable
Ms Sturgeon must go to the UK Government to seek an Order in Council under Section 30(2) of the Scotland Act 1998. This will allow the Scottish Parliament to legislate for IndyRef2.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel