Scotland's leader starts a campaign for a new independence vote

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The First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, is interviewed, Tuesday, May 17, 2022, in Washington. / AP

LONDON — Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is starting her campaign for a second independence referendum on Tuesday, arguing that Scotland would be economically better off outside the United Kingdom.

Sturgeon, who leads the Scottish National Party as well as the devolved government in Scotland, says she will release the first in a series of papers laying out the case for independence.

Scotland rejected independence in a 2014 referendum, with 55% of voters saying they wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom. The U.K.-wide government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson opposes a new vote on independence, saying the issue was settled in that vote.

But Sturgeon argues that the landscape has changed since then, most importantly because of Britain's departure from the European Union, a policy opposed by a majority of people in Scotland.

"Had we known in 2014 everything we know now about the path the U.K. would have taken then, I've got no doubt Scotland would have voted yes back then," Sturgeon said in an interview with the BBC.

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