Nicola Sturgeon issued a demand on Monday for a second Scottish independence referendum, handing Theresa May the challenge of keeping the UK united just as she grapples with the country’s plans to leave the EU.
The Scottish first minister’s call for a vote by spring 2019 — around the time Britain is scheduled to leave the bloc — means the UK faces another battle over Scottish independence only a few years after the “once-in-a-generation” referendum in 2014.
Ms Sturgeon appeared to take Downing Street by surprise with her speech on Monday morning, disrupting plans by Theresa May, the UK prime minister, to invoke the EU’s Article 50 exit clause this week and thus start the two-year “divorce process”.
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