Scotland will push for a second independence referendum if Tory Prime Minister Theresa May follows through with plans to take the UK out of the single market in a ‘hard Brexit,’ First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Thursday.
Speaking at the SNP’s three-day annual conference, Sturgeon argued the Tories have no democratic mandate for a ‘hard Brexit,’ which would see a severe crackdown on EU immigration and a departure from the single market.
Britain will trigger the formal process for leaving the European Union before the end of March, Prime Minister Theresa May said Sunday, during the Conservative Party conference.
Announcing the historic change, May said: “We will introduce, in the next Queen’s speech, a Great Repeal Bill that will remove the European Communities Act from the statute book. That was the act that took us into the European Union". Then, speaking to the BBC, May stresses that the negotations required at least 2 years.
The EU summit will begin tomorrow in Bratislava, but some key issues have already appeared on the table: "We need to protect our external borders but we must take joint responsibility", is the statement released to press by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel after the meeting with French President François Hollande in Paris.
Brexit deal has not yet begun, but it already appears uphill, after the European Commission has appointed as negotiator few days ago, the former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, the current leader of the liberals at the European Parliament.
In a tweet he said: "Brexit should be delivered before 2019, when EU politics enters into new cycle & the @Europarl_EN starts new mandate" and pointing out that if the UK wants to continue to have access to the common market, must also accept the freedom of movement of citizens, considering "inseparable" the four freedoms of movement of goods, services, capital and people.
