Nicola Sturgeon on Friday urged Scotland to “control its own destiny” as she launched another push for independence.
In a speech in Stirling, the Scottish first minister said choosing independence would be a “big decision” in the wake of the Brexit vote, but her Scottish National Party was “right” to keep the idea on the table.
“Before we start talking, we must listen. So today we are launching, as the first phase in our new campaign, the biggest listening exercise in our party’s history. It will run from now until St Andrew’s Day (November 30). We want to understand in detail how people feel now about Europe, Brexit and independence,” Sturgeon said.
Scots voted against independence in 2014, but the issue came up again after the Brexit vote, when Scotland overwhelmingly chose to stay in the EU.
After the June vote, Sturgeon said a second independence vote was “highly likely.”
“This summer we witnessed seismic changes which will have a deep impact on our ambition for this country,” she said Friday.
However, opinion polls since the EU referendum suggest that a second independence vote could be a close-run thing. Two recent YouGov polls have even shown a narrow majority in favor of staying in the U.K.
In response to Sturgeon’s comments, Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said the SNP head “has shown today that she is prepared to ignore the priorities of the people of Scotland, in pursuit of her own narrow nationalist agenda.
“If she was really listening, she would know that most of us don’t want to go back to another divisive referendum debate — we want Scotland to move on.”
Opposition parties have called on Sturgeon to focus on her “day job” of running Scotland, saying she needs to concentrate on improving public services rather than pushing for independence.
Sturgeon on Friday also had harsh words for the SNP’s traditional main rival, the Labour Party, saying there was the “very real possibility” that the party was on the verge of collapse.
Meanwhile, a poll in the Times showed that Sturgeon is no longer the most popular Scottish leader. According to a YouGov poll, Davidson has the highest net approval rating of any political leader in Scotland, and the Scottish Conservatives are the second most popular party after the SNP and ahead of Labour.
