Nicola Sturgeon has issued a response after Boris Johnson knocked back her request for a second Scottish independence referendum.
In his letter to the SNP leader Mr Johnson said he had "carefully considered" the case she had made for powers to be transferred to Holyrood that would allow it to hold a vote on Scotland's future.
The First Minister accused the PM of being “terrified of Scotland’s right to choose”, adding that the Scottish Government would set out its next steps before the end of the month.
My full response to UK government letter. #indyref2020 pic.twitter.com/UvAFrDJF1n
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) January 14, 2020
READ MORE: Boris Johnson rejects Nicola Sturgeon's demand for second independence vote
Read Ms Sturgeon's statement in full:
"The Tories are terrified of Scotland having the right to choose our own future.
"They know that given the choice the overwhelming likelihood is that people will choose the positive option of independence.
"The Tories - and their allies in the leaderships of Labour and the Lib Dems - lack any positive case for the Union, so all they can do is try to block democracy.
"It shows utter contempt for the votes, views and interests of the people of Scotland and it is a strategy that is doomed to failure.
"While today's response is not surprising - indeed we anticipated it - it will not stand.
"It is not politically sustainable for any Westminster government to stand in the way of the right of the people of Scotland to decide their own future and to seek to block the clear democratic mandate for an independence referendum.
"The problem for the UK government is that the longer they try to block a referendum, the more they demonstrate that the Westminster union is not a partnership of equals and the more support for independence will grow.
"It will also mean for the Tories that the loss of half of their seats suffered at the recent general election - fought by them on the sole issue of opposition to an independence referendum - will be only the start of their road back to political oblivion in Scotland.
"In short, as well as being unsustainable, the position set out today by the UK government is also an entirely self-defeating one.
"The Scottish Government will set out our response and next steps later this month when we will also ask the Scottish Parliament to again endorse Scotland's right to choose.
"One thing, though, is clear - the people of Scotland will get the right to decide our own future in an independence referendum.
"The Westminster union cannot be sustained without consent. Democracy will prevail.
"The only question is how long it will take the Tories and the rest of the Westminster establishment to accept that inevitability."
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