Nicola Sturgeon may attempt to block Brexit laws

Scotland will do whatever it takes to remain in the European Union, including potentially blocking the legal process behind Britain's exit from the bloc, first minister Nicola Sturgeon said yesterday.

Scotland, a nation of five million people, voted to stay in the EU by 62 to 38 per cent in Thursday's referendum, putting it at odds with the United Kingdom as a whole, which voted by 52 to 48 per cent in favour of an exit from the bloc, or Brexit.

Ms Sturgeon has said a new Scottish referendum on independence from the rest of the UK is “highly likely” if that is the best option to keep Scotland in the bloc. “There are going to be deeply damaging and painful consequences of the process of trying to extricate the UK from the EU. I want to try and protect Scotland from that,” she told BBC television.

Scots voted against independence by 55 to 45 per cent in a 2014 referendum, after a campaign during which remaining in the EU was presented as a key reason to stick with the UK.

Scottish newspaper the Sunday Post published a poll by research firm ScotPulse, taken on Friday, that suggested support for independence had surged to 59 per cent since the Brexit vote.

Ms Sturgeon said she would seek a way of negotiating directly with the EU on the best way to achieve Scotland’s aim of staying in the bloc. – (Reuters)