Sturgeon halts plans for second referendum on independence

Weakened by the results of the June general election, in which the SNP lost 21 MPs at Westminster, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon yesterday announced that she is halting plans to hold a second referendum on independence in autumn of next year.

“We will not present legislation to hold the referendum immediately,” Sturgeon told the Edinburgh Parliament, stating that her focus is now on the outcome of the Brexit negotiations between London and Brussels, a move - she recalled - that 62% of Scots rejected in June 2016.

According to the new schedule, the earliest the referendum would now be held is spring 2019, after the United Kingdom’s departure from the EU, scheduled for March of that year. Sturgeon had not yet obtained approval for the vote from London.

The setback in the British elections in June, in which the SNP won only 35 of the 59 seats assigned to Scotland in the House of Commons, has led Sturgeon to now “review” the calendar. However, she claimed to still be “totally committed” to a referendum that allows the country’s future to be decided “at the end of the Brexit process.”

For her part, Theresa May said that Sturgeon “should completely abandon the plan for a second referendum.” “Now is the time for unity, not division”, she said.