Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said a second independence referendum is “highly likely” after the U.K. voted to leave the European Union.
Almost 52 percent of U.K. voters chose to leave the EU in Thursday’s referendum but Scotland voted by an even larger majority – 62 percent – to remain a member of the bloc.
Speaking in Edinburgh on Friday morning, Sturgeon said Scotland risked being taken out of the EU against its will:
“There is no doubt that yesterday’s result represents a significant and material change of the circumstances in which Scotland voted against independence in 2014. My job now is to act responsibly and in the interests of all of Scotland, and that is what I intend to do.”
She continued: “I think an independence referendum is now highly likely, but I also think it’s important that we take time to consider all steps and to have the discussions – not least to assess the response of the European Union to the vote that Scotland expressed yesterday,’’ Anadolu reports.
