Sturgeon launches new '˜independence' campaign

The Scottish First Minister launched what she described as the “biggest-ever political listening exercise”, with the goal of speaking to two million voters before the end of November.

While she accepted that opting to leave the UK “would be a big decision”, the First Minister said: “I believe it is right that our party does now lead a new conversation on independence.”

Her speech in Stirling took place almost two years after the September 2014 referendum, which saw Scots vote by 55 per cent to 45 per cent in favour of remaining in the United Kingdom.

Ms Sturgeon said all polls since then had shown increased support for independence and added: “I suspect support for independence will be even higher if it becomes clear it is the best or only way to protect our interests.”

She stressed the campaign by her party “will be a new debate, it will not be a rerun of 2014”.

She added: “The UK that Scotland voted to stay part of has changed and so to have the arguments for and against independence.”

A “double whammy” of two “seismic events” over the summer has dramatically changed the political landscape, she argued.

Ms Sturgeon highlighted the uncertainty caused by the vote to leave the European Union (EU) in June, saying Scotland now faced the prospect “not just of being taken out of the EU against our will but being taken out of the single market altogether”.

She also claimed Labour’s decision “to press the self-destruct button” left the country facing “years, perhaps decades, of Tory government”.