Brexit: Scotland could veto UK's withdrawal from the EU, Nicola Sturgeon warns

Robin de Peyer18 July 2016
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Scotland could veto the process of the UK leaving the EU, Nicola Sturgeon has suggested.

The Scottish First Minister said her country is in a "strong position" to block Brexit.

After a meeting with Ms Sturgeon on Friday, new Prime Minister Theresa May said Article 50 - which formally triggers the withdrawal process - would not be triggered until a "UK-wide approach" had been agreed.

Asked by the BBC whether the comments mean Mrs May had given Scotland a veto over Brexit, Ms Sturgeon said: "That certainly appeared to be an interpretation that some put on the Prime Minister's remarks after the meeting...and certainly from what she said after the meeting, I think that puts Scotland in now in a very, very strong position.

"That's a position I am going to use as well as I can."

The SNP leader has previously said a second referendum on Scottish independence is now highly likely because voters north of the border rejected Brexit in the June 23 vote.

Ms Sturgeon has set up an expert group to look at the options for protecting Scotland's place in Europe.

She said it could be possible to find a solution where Scotland remains in the EU and the UK, while the rest of the country leaves the EU - a move Scottish Secretary David Mundell has described as fanciful.

She said: "My position is there might be. We're in uncharted territory, and when you are in uncharted territory with effectively a blank sheet of paper in front of you, then you have the opportunity to try to think things that might have previously been unthinkable and shape the future.

"I think there are opportunities. The positive outcome of the meeting I had with the Prime Minister on Friday was that she said she was prepared to listen to options the Scottish Government would bring forward to give effect to how Scotland voted and we will certainly bring forward options."

Her comments contradict remarks by some EU leaders, including Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who have suggested that if the UK leaves, Scotland leaves too.

But the First Minister, who met with key EU figures during a trip to Brussels after the referendum, said Europe's attitude to Scotland has changed since the 2014 independence referendum.

Asked if the EU may put aside its own rules and act politically to keep Scotland in, she said: "I do think that mood is there, and what I encountered in Brussels was a warmth, an openness, a great sympathy to the position that Scotland finds itself in.

"Things have changed fundamentally."

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