LONDON (Reuters) - Scotland's Prime Minister Nicola Storgen said Wednesday that her government would soon introduce a bill aimed at holding a second referendum on independence from Britain in two years, hoping to stay in the EU after Britain's departure.
Storgen, who heads the Scottish National Party, told parliamentarians in Edinburgh that "62 percent of the Scots vote for staying in the European Union is in vain." In reference to a 2016 referendum on the departure of the European Union, in which 52% of Britons voted for exit from the EU while 62% voted for the Scots to stay.
Storgen considered her government's efforts to reach a settlement on exit from the EU, which could mitigate the damage to the economy, "met with deaf ears" and that it was still impossible to predict what would happen about the exit from the Union.
She said the government would work to ensure that people had the right to choose independence from the United Kingdom during the present term of parliament, which ends in May 2021.
The Prime Minister of Scotland has promised to submit a draft law to lay down the rules for any referendum on independence, hoping that the project will be adopted before the end of the year.
Fifty-five percent of Scots have already voted in favor of remaining in the UK in the 2014 referendum, but Britain's vote in favor of leaving the EU in 2016 prompted independence supporters to demand a new referendum.