Scottish independence referendum: PM says focus needs to be on Brexit

“History may look back on today and see it as the day the fate of the union was sealed”.

MSPs will vote next week on whether they will support her request for a section 30 order from Westminster, which would be needed for Holyrood to hold a legally binding ballot.

In legislative terms, the House of Lords has accepted the supremacy of the Commons after MPs overturned amendments aimed at guaranteeing the rights of European Union citizens in the United Kingdom and giving Parliament a “meaningful vote” on the final Brexit deal.

May said “now is not the time”, and that the referendum could not be held until after the completion of Brexit, which will likely be in 2019 at the earliest. That “would be undemocratic”, she said, arguing that the Scottish government had “a clear mandate”.

The UK Government will not enter into any negotiations for a second independence referendum at the moment, the Scottish secretary has said.

But that changed unexpectedly on Thursday.

Yesterday Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement that she would seek a second Scottish referendum threw a spanner in the works – but Downing Street insisted that it was always the intention to trigger later in March.

Speaking at the press conference, Mundell said:”That established that a referendum must be legal, fair and decisive”. But the Conservative-led British government must first approve the schedule for the referendum.

Sturgeon accused May of “blocking Scotland’s right to choose”.

“And that is because there is no clear political or public consent for this to take place”. We will not agree to a referendum. “What I don’t accept is that that position is an acceptable one, a democratic one or a sustainable one”.

On twitter following the parliamentary session, Sturgeon said: “Scotgov is not proposing #scotref now.but when the terms of Brexit clear and before it is too late to choose an alternative path”. Arguably, there could be substance in Ms Sturgeon’s cavil that London had failed to address Scotland’s desire to remain in the single market after Britain leaves.

“We have been one country over 300 years; we have fought together, we have worked together, we have achieved together and constitutional game-playing must not be allowed to break the deep bonds of our shared history and our future together”, she added.

The currency is down about 18 per cent against the dollar since the European Union referendum in June and while there seems to be a broad consensus that the prospect of a hard Brexit is already priced in, many believe that it could still trend lower over the medium term.