Sturgeon’s referendum move puts pressure on Brexit plan

Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon has dramatically raised the stakes of Brexit by seeking a second referendum on independence before the final exit deal is agreed with the European Union.

She will ask the Scottish parliament next week to authorise a referendum to be held between autumn next year and spring 2019 when the terms of the final Brexit deal should be clear.

The move appeared to wrong-foot Downing Street, which announced that British prime minister Theresa May will not trigger article 50 this week to begin the Brexit process as had been widely expected in Brussels and London.

The prime minister’s spokesman said she would start formal Brexit negotiations before the end of this month, asserting it had never been Ms May’s intention to do so this week. MPs on Monday night removed the last hurdle in the way of triggering article 50, overturning two House of Lords amendments to a Bill authorising it.

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Ms Sturgeon said the prime minister had shown no willingness to compromise on her Brexit strategy to take account of the interests of Scotland, where a majority voted to remain in the EU last year.

Real partnership

“I will take the steps necessary now to make sure that Scotland will have a choice at the end of this process, a choice of whether to follow the UK to a hard Brexit or to become an independent country able to secure a real partnership of equals with the rest of the UK and our own relationship with Europe,” Ms Sturgeon said.

Ms Sturgeon needs the approval of the British government to hold a binding referendum on independence. Ms May dismissed the first minister’s move as an expression of the Scottish National Party’s “tunnel vision”, but she stopped short of threatening to block it.

“This is at a time when the Scottish people, the majority of the Scottish people, do not want a second independence referendum. Instead of playing politics with the future of our country, the Scottish government should focus on delivering good government and public services for the people of Scotland. Politics is not a game,” Ms May said.

The prime minister’s decision to delay triggering article 50 was announced a few hours after Ms Sturgeon’s referendum announcement. Although Ms May did not specify a date during last week’s EU summit, she did nothing to discourage the expectation that she would start the formal negotiating process either this week.

Draft guidelines

European Council president Donald Tusk last week outlined a timetable based on an announcement from Ms May this week, with the EU due to respond by Friday with draft negotiating guidelines which would go to EU leaders for approval at a summit on April 6th.

The draft guidelines are expected to run to 10 pages and to outline a sequence for the negotiations and a path to agreeing a methodology with Britain for dealing with the sensitive issue of how much London will have to pay the EU when it leaves. Discussions about the actual sum to be paid will be postponed to a later stage in the negotiations.

Irish officials have been in constant contact with Mr Tusk’s office and expect to see “specific language on Ireland” in the draft document.

The Government hopes other EU member states will agree that discussions over the operation of the Border and the future of the Common Travel Area should be left initially to Dublin and London to work out.

British sources agreed with this suggestion on Monday, though they said that they expected the Irish side to make the running, as British requests during the talks will inevitably become part of the broader negotiations.