Scotland wants to have more detail about how the government plans to leave the European Union to prevent a “hard Brexit” that would severely damage the economy, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said yesterday.
After Britain’s vote to leave the EU, Sturgeon said Scotland may seek another independence referendum — something that could split the world’s fifth largest economy apart just as it attempts to go it alone outside the European bloc.
A supporter of EU membership, the head of Scotland’s devolved government said the Brexit vote showed deep voter disillusionment over free trade, immigration and what she said was unfair distribution of the spoils of globalisation.
Sturgeon said the Brexit vote in June had made it clear that a second referendum on Scottish independence was an option if the British government took decisions that hurt Scotland’s economy and its place in the world.
“I’m trying to be tactful here — it would be helpful to know more about the government’s kind of thinking,” Sturgeon said in a speech to the Institute of Directors. “We would all benefit greatly from some clarity.”
“I don’t believe there is a clear mandate for what is generally known as a ‘hard Brexit’,” Sturgeon said, adding that it would hurt employment, business, investment and wider society by undermining institutions such as universities.
Under the ‘hard Brexit’ formula, Britain could be left without a deal on preferential access to the EU’s single market and potentially grappling with soured relations with other EU members, while free to impose limits on immigration from the bloc.
Scots rejected independence in a 2014 referendum. But in the referendum on EU membership on June 23 they voted to stay in the bloc while England and Wales opted to leave.