SNP leader rallies Scotland ahead of election
The leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), Nicola Sturgeon, has entered the final leg of the election campaign by warning that the “very future of Scotland” is at stake.
Sturgeon, who is also Scotland’s First Minister, has appealed to voters to back the SNP in order “to escape Brexit, protect the NHS, and to put Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands”.
Sturgeon’s latest exhortation to voters across Britain comes on the heels of her proclamation on Friday that she is an “internationalist”, and as such, she is opposed to a “hard border” with the UK once Scottish independence has been achieved.
Sturgeon’s assurances on a “hard border” are expected to ease fears across the UK that Scottish independence could have an unsettling effect on national life across Britain.
Speaking to the Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2 on December 6, Sturgeon made the case for Scottish independence by pointing out the fact that as one of the wealthiest countries in the world, Scotland is likely to thrive further still as an independent state.
“If you look at most countries of a similar size to Scotland across Europe most of them are more prosperous and wealthier than Scotland”, Sturgeon said.
"And most of them don't have the natural resources that we have”, Sturgeon added by way of reinforcing her point.
On the crucial question of a future Labour government agreeing to a Scottish independence referendum, Sturgeon indicated that this is likely.
“Listening to Jeremy Corbyn, much as you can never work out what he means on things, he seems to concede that principle[a Scottish independence referendum], but I guess perhaps to keep his Scottish Labour party colleagues happy or less unhappy, he’s made this issue of timing”, Sturgeon said.
In a sign that the Scottish Tories are increasingly worried about a pact between the SNP and the Labour party, the leader of the Scottish Tories has urged Scots to vote for the Conservative party to put an independence referendum “in cold storage for good”.
In a sign of desperation, Jackson Carlaw, who has been leader of the Scottish Conservatives since August, urged “unionist Scots” to “band together” to stop a second independence referendum.
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