Nicola Sturgeon seeks new independence vote if Britain leaves EU

Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon will press for a new vote on the country's independence if Britons vote to leave the EU on 23 June. The move will force Scotland out of the union as well, hence Scots deserve a new referendum, a statement by the party read.

On 1 May 1707, Scotland entered into a political union with England to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain, but some political parties have now been demanding its separation from the UK. The country held an independence referendum in 2014, wherein Scottish people chose to remain within the UK.

The upcoming June referendum on Britain's EU membership subjects Scotland to a possible ouster from the bloc if UK votes to leave the EU. Some surveys suggest that Scots are more likely to vote to remain within the bloc than other Britons, Reuters reported.

Sturgeon said that if the Leave campaign wins in the referendum, then the Scottish parliament should have the right to hold a new referendum. "We believe that the Scottish Parliament should have the right to hold another referendum if there is clear and sustained evidence that independence has become the preferred option of a majority of the Scottish people - or if there is a significant and material change in the circumstances that prevailed in 2014, such as Scotland being taken out of the EU against our will," the SNP leader said, according to the party's website.

Scotland goes to poll in May and ahead of the parliamentary elections, Sturgeon gave clear signs that if she became the First Minister, she would intensify efforts to take Scotland out of the UK.

"We believe passionately that independence offers the best future for Scotland," the SNP leader said in the statement, adding, that in the next parliament "[her party] will work hard to persuade a majority of the Scottish people that being an independent country is the best option for our country.

"We will listen to the concerns of people who voted No in 2014 and seek to address them. The case we make will be relevant to the complex world we live in today".