UK Prime Minister Theresa May says now is not the time for a second referendum on Scottish independence, following remarks by Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon that she would again consider another vote on independence.
“Now is not the time for another divisive independence referendum and there is no appetite for one,” May’s spokesman told reporters on Monday.
Sturgeon said on Sunday she would again consider another vote on independence for Scotland when the British government offers some certainty over Brexit.
Speaking on ITV, Sturgeon also said her Scottish National Party would not block another Brexit vote on any final deal, but feared what would happen if the different parts of the United Kingdom voted for opposite outcomes in the same way they did in 2016.
“Once we get some clarity, which hopefully we will in autumn of this year, about the Brexit outcome and the future relationship between the UK and the EU, then I will consider again the question of the timing of an independence referendum,” she said.
May insists Britain will leave the EU as planned in March of 2019 and there will be no rerun of the Brexit referendum.
Britain has been at loggerheads with the devolved nations - Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales - on how power would be shared after Britain’s separation from the 28-member bloc.
In the 2016 Brexit referendum, Scotland voted in favor of the UK staying in the EU by 62 percent to 38 percent while 52 percent of Britons voted to leave the EU.
The last time Scots voted on independence was in 2014, when 55.30 percent voted to stay while 44.70 percent voted to leave.