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Can Boris Johnson stop a new Scottish independence referendum if Nicola Sturgeon triumphs again next year?

Politics Explained: Holyrood elections will put the union in peril as never before – and the prime minister is seriously rattled, writes Rob Merrick

Saturday 08 August 2020 17:52 BST
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Nicola Sturgeon will demand another independence ballot if, as seems certain, the SNP crushes the opposition next May
Nicola Sturgeon will demand another independence ballot if, as seems certain, the SNP crushes the opposition next May

No one knows if we will be free to go on holiday next year, or to pubs without restrictions, or still be in the grip of a deep recession – but one thing in politics appears certain.

It is that, come May, Nicola Sturgeon will be crowned the Queen of Scotland again and banging on Boris Johnson’s door, waving a powerful mandate for a fresh independence referendum.

If the SNP is handed a majority at Holyrood, the Scottish public will also have voted for the chance to break up “the world’s most successful union” – through what is dubbed “Indyref2” – so surely the prime minister will have to yield?

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