Nicola Sturgeon will boost her campaign to hold a referendum on independence by the end of 2023 by publishing the first in a series of articles on the benefits of ending the Union.
The Prime Minister will hold a press conference in Edinburgh on Tuesday with Patrick Harvey, an ally of the Scottish Greens.
Sturgeon has promised to hold IndyRef2 by the end of next year, but is facing strong opposition from the UK government and pro-union parties in Holyrood.
That comes when former SNP leader Alex Salmond used an interview last weekend to urge the Scottish government to pull the “gun” in a new independence campaign.
In an interview with BBC Scotland, Sturgeon was asked if tomorrow’s event marks the official start of IndyRef2’s campaign.
The first minister said: “Yes. We said we would do it after the situation with Covid allowed.
“Tomorrow we will publish the first of a series of articles that will substantiate the arguments for independence in an interdependent world.
The world, both domestic and international, has changed significantly since the 2014 Scottish vote.
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“The first document will be largely staged – it will look at the economic and social performance of the United Kingdom and Scotland in this context, compared to a number of other countries in Europe.
“The bottom line, very clear, is that Scotland can do much better as an independent country.”
Asked when a bill would be introduced to pave the way for a referendum, Sturgeon said she would say more about the legislation in the coming weeks.
She added: “There are two principles that are really important in all this.
“Democracy is first. The Scottish people gave my party, my government, a mandate for a referendum on independence last year. I intend to respect that.
“The second principle is the rule of law. Every process must be legal and lawful.
“If we had a government of the United Kingdom that respects democracy, this would have been allowed in the way it was in 2014 with an order under section 30.
But the event was condemned by opposition politicians, who insisted that ministers should focus on tackling the NHS crisis and the cost of living.
Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Scottish leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “Nicholas Sturgeon has launched more independence campaigns than ferries.
“This coalition is for one and only one. Ministers are paying attention, senior government officials and tens of millions of pounds to independence.
“They are more interested in their obsession with independence than anyone else on the NHS’s longest waiting list in history, the cost of living crisis or the climate emergency.
“No one believes that education is a top priority for Nicola Sturgeon anymore.
“The SNP and the Greens take the people for granted. Let’s put aside the independence referendum talks and get to work on what matters at the moment.”
Donald Cameron said: “Nicholas Sturgeon deliberately ignores Scotland’s priorities in order to continue with plans for a second split referendum on independence in 2023.
“The vast majority of Scots do not want another referendum to be dispelled next year.
“They want the government to focus 100% on our recovery from the pandemic, the global cost of living crisis, supporting our NHS and protecting jobs.
“Still, Nicholas Sturgeon recklessly continues his obsession. This is nothing but shame when the country is facing so many important challenges.
“Distracting and interrupting another bitter referendum debate is the last thing Scotland needs right now.
“Nicola Sturgeon should be fully focused on helping people during this difficult time, and not diverting state resources and huge sums of public money to the SNP’s obsession.
“The Scots want to see a SNP government focused on key tasks such as building ferries, not the disintegration of the United Kingdom.
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