Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s renewed push for secession from the UK faces several hurdles if her nationalist party’s dream of independence is to come true, analysts said Thursday.
Sturgeon announced Wednesday that she will push for a second independence referendum, to be held before May 2021, saying Scotland should have the option of staying in the European Union as a separate nation.
Sturgeon leads the left-wing, separatist Scottish National Party, which has its spring conference this weekend.
In the 2014 referendum, some 55 percent said Scotland should not be an independent country, but the dream still burns brightly within the SNP, which runs a minority government in the devolved Scottish parliament.
Daniel Kenealy, a politics lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, said the SNP was not as united on the independence drive as it likes to present.
He said newer members energised by the 2014 referendum were keen for another plebiscite soon, convinced they will win — while a more gradualist element within the party was more cautious.
“There’s a real tactical disagreement in the party on how best to progress this issue,” he told AFP.
Source: Guardian Newspaper
