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Sturgeon: Scotland can be bridge between UK and EU SNP conference: Nicola Sturgeon says indyref2 'must happen next year'
(about 16 hours later)
An independent Scotland could act as a "bridge between the EU and the UK" and be a "magnet for global investment", Nicola Sturgeon is to tell SNP members. A second referendum on Scottish independence "must happen next year", Nicola Sturgeon has told the SNP conference.
The first minister is to close her party's conference in Aberdeen with a speech on Brexit and independence. Ms Sturgeon confirmed that she will ask the UK government to give formal consent by the end of this year.
She will say that being inside the EU's single market and close to the UK would give Scotland a "unique advantage". She said Westminster had "no right" to block the request, and its opposition to indyref2 is "not sustainable".
And she is set to unveil the first SNP policy pledge of the 2021 election campaign, to scrap social care charges. But she stressed any referendum had to be legal if the result was to be recognised internationally.
She said she was aiming to be re-elected as first minister in 2021, and said charges for people who are cared for in their own homes would be phased out across the term of that parliament if she was. She said this was because her aim was not merely to deliver a referendum - but to deliver independence.
The conference in Aberdeen has focused on the core of the party's platform for the coming UK general election - opposition to Brexit and support for a new referendum on independence. Ms Sturgeon, who is Scotland's first minister, told delegates at the conference in Aberdeen: "My call is that the referendum must happen next year.
Ms Sturgeon will tell party members that "we must reject a post-Brexit race to the bottom and embrace instead a race to join the top tier of independent nations". "And we are getting ready. By the new year, we will have completed our legislative preparations. We are already working to update the independence prospectus.
And she will say that "as an independent European country", Scotland would have "a unique advantage". "And I can confirm today that before the end of this year, I will demand the transfer of power that puts the legality of a referendum beyond any doubt."
She is expected to say: "We will be in the EU single market and also the closest neighbour to our friends in the rest of the UK - a bridge between the EU and the UK, making our country a magnet for global investment. The UK government has repeatedly said it will not grant a Section 30 order, which was used to ensure the legality of the independence referendum in 2014 in which Scottish voters opted to remain in the UK by 55% to 45%.
"That's what I call the best of both worlds." This has led to calls for Ms Sturgeon to outline a so-called Plan B, with some activists and elected politicians arguing that the SNP winning a majority of Scottish seats in an election would be enough for independence negotiations to begin with the UK government.
Earlier in the conference, Brexit Secretary Mike Russell told delegates that the Scottish government was "intensely examining" EU accession rules with a view to reapplying for membership after winning independence. Others have called for an unofficial referendum to be held, similar to the disputed one in Catalonia in 2017.
Ms Sturgeon has been questioned several times about whether Scotland being inside the EU's single market, while the remaining UK is not, would require a hard border between the two. But Ms Sturgeon told the conference that the question should not be what the SNP will do if Westminster refuses to agree to a Section 30.
She told BBC Breakfast on Monday that "it would be my intention that that does not happen". She said: "The question should be demanded of the Westminster parties - what gives you any right to deny people in Scotland our ability to choose our own future?
She said: "Before Scotland takes that decision on independence we would set out how we intend to ensure that trade flows between Scotland the rest of the UK and vice versa would continue, because it's important that they do. "The Westminster refusal is not sustainable. We can already see the cracks appearing.
"Obviously the detail of that depends on the final relationship between the UK and the EU, we don't know what that's going to be yet. "Just like us, they know there is going to be a referendum. And they know that when there is, Scotland will choose independence."
"I will, as the independence campaign did in 2014, put forward all these facts and arguments so people in Scotland can make an informed choice about their future." However, Ms Sturgeon again stressed that the process "must be legal" and must "allow majority support to be expressed clearly and unambiguously".
On Sunday, delegates unanimously voted through a motion supporting the decriminalisation of drugs, making it officially the party's policy should powers over the field be devolved. She added: "It must have the recognition of the international community. Why? Because our job is not just to deliver a referendum. Our job is to deliver independence."
The conference has also seen a string of party leadership figures dismiss the possibility of a "plan B" route to independence, with attempts to strike a deal with the UK government over a referendum currently deadlocked. What else did Ms Sturgeon say?
Some activists - including MPs, MSPs and councillors - have suggested that if this situation continues, the party could hold an unauthorised vote or treat an election win as a mandate to start independence negotiations. Did she announce any new policies?
An attempt to add a debate on this to the conference agenda was overwhelmingly voted down on Sunday. Ms Sturgeon said the Scottish government would introduce a new law to establish emergency protective orders which would help to ensure that it is the perpetrators of domestic violence rather than the victims who lose their homes.
On Monday, Deputy First Minister John Swinney told members that only "patient persuasion" followed by a legally-recognised referendum would secure independence. She said: "We need to change the reality that for women and their children, often the only way to escape an abuser is to flee their home. For too many, that results in the victims of abuse becoming homeless."
Echoing earlier comments by Ms Sturgeon, he said: "There is no shortcut. There is no magic policy or political wheeze that can change the task ahead of us. Ms Sturgeon also announced that the SNP will scrap non-residential social care charges for all if she is still first minister after the Holyrood election in 2021.
"One by one we must persuade our families, our friends and our neighbours of our cause. One by one. Step by step." And she said her party would pledge to expand childcare into the school holidays for primary pupils from the poorest backgrounds in its election manifesto.