Scottish leader: Independence vote key, whatever court says
Associated PressLONDON — The leader of the Scottish government said Sunday that she will push on with her campaign to take Scotland out of the United Kingdom, even if she loses a Supreme Court case seeking authorization to call a new independence referendum. Britain’s top court is due to hear arguments starting Tuesday on whether Scotland’s semi-autonomous administration can organize an independence vote without the London government’s consent. Sturgeon, who leads the Scottish National Party, said that if her Edinburgh-based government loses the court case, she will make the next U.K. national election a de facto plebiscite on ending Scotland’s three-century-old union with England. Sturgeon’s party leads a pro-independence majority in the Scottish parliament, together with the Scottish Green Party, and she maintains that support has created an “indisputable democratic mandate” for a new independence vote.