SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said Boris Johnson “emphatically does not have a mandate” to take Scotland out of the EU.
Speaking on Sky News, she said: “I’m bitterly disappointed at the result UK wide, I think Tory governments are bad for the UK, more than they’re bad for Scotland, and I really don’t want the UK to leave the European Union.
READ MORE: Labour swept aside by SNP juggernaut says Richard Leonard
“But I’ve got to accept that England appears to have voted in a particular way, they appear to have voted for a Conservative government and appear to have voted to endorse the UK leaving the European Union.
“So Boris Johnson may have a mandate to take England out of the European Union, but he emphatically does not have a mandate to take Scotland out of the European Union.
“And Scotland must have the choice over our own future because it can’t be any clearer than it has been made in this election today that Scotland doesn’t want a five year Boris Johnson government and doesn’t want to lose our status as a European nation.”
READ MORE: Jo Swinson loses seat and Jeremy Corbyn steps down as SNP make large gains
Speaking at the Glasgow election count on Friday morning, Ms Sturgeon said the SNP’s resounding victory north of the border showed that the people of Scotland were against leaving the EU.
She said: “I do accept that he has a mandate for Brexit in England, but he does not have a mandate in Scotland.
“I have a renewed strength and refreshed mandate to offer people the choice of an alternative to Brexit, of becoming an independent country able to protect our European membership.
“I don’t pretend that everybody who voted SNP yesterday would support independence, but – and I think the Conservatives would have to accept this – there is a clear view that we must have the right to choose our own future.”
Ms Sturgeon added that on a personal level, she “feels for” Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson, who lost her seat in East Dunbartonshire.
The First Minister was reacting to a strong night from the SNP with gains across the country from all parties.
Ms Sturgeon said that she still plans to request a Section 30 order, which would allow her to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence.
She said: “That’s the position I’ve said before. I’ve not changed that position.
“I think it’s for the Conservatives now to reflect on their position. The Conservatives in Scotland put opposition to an independence referendum front and centre, it was the only strand of their campaign, actually.
“The Tories have had a catastrophic result, losing seats to the SNP.”
The First Minister said she was “not prepared” to talk about Boris Johnson rejecting the request.
She added: “In democracy, it’s the person who loses an election who has to reconsider their position.”
Hitting out at the Scottish Conservatives she said that they had a "catastrophic night" and they have to recognise democracy and argued that it is now for the Conservatives to consider what their Plan B is when her Plan A has just been given a strong endorsement.
Meanwhile, Jo Swinson lost her seat in what was the biggest scalp of the night, with the SNP also taking the seat of Paul Sweeney.
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