Scotland's First Minister says the United Kingdom's early election results show that Scottish voters should be given another referendum on whether to remain with or leave the union it helped create in 1707.
Election exit polls suggest the pro-Scottish independence Scottish National Party (SNP) has won 55 of 59 Scottish seats in the UK parliament's House of Commons, which has prompted First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to declare the election a "mandate" for independence.
Scotland was given an independence referendum in 2014, where about 55 per cent of Scottish voters chose to remain within the UK.
But by 2016, a majority of voters in England and Wales voted to take the UK out of the European Union — a decision that a majority of voters in Northern Ireland and Scotland voted against.
In the years since, calls for a second bid at independence have grown louder as some independence advocates — including Ms Sturgeon — say Scotland did not vote to remain in the UK only to be pulled out of the EU.
During a press conference in October this year, Ms Sturgeon said she would ask the UK Government for formal consent for another independence referendum if her party won a majority of seats for Scotland in parliament.
At the time, Ms Sturgeon said Brexit was a "disaster" and her party would never back leaving the EU.
"A no-deal Brexit is unthinkable," she said during her speech.
"And for the Scottish Tories in particular to back such an outcome is simply unforgivable."
If results in the election reflect preliminary exit polls, it appears Ms Sturgeon might be presented with that opportunity to revive an independence bid.
She told the BBC early on Friday that despite Boris Johnson's incoming parliamentary majority, he has "no right" to take Scotland out of the European Union.
"We don't want a Boris Johnson Conservative government. We don't want to leave the EU," she said.
While she acknowledged that not everyone who voted for the SNP explicitly wanted independence, Ms Sturgeon said Scotland voted to "have a choice" over its future and did not want to to "put up with a Conservative government [Scotland] didn't vote for".
"Boris Johnson may have a mandate to take England out of the European Union, he emphatically does not have a mandate to take Scotland out of the European Union."
SNP claims scalp of Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson
In the centuries since its creation, the United Kingdom has grown and contracted but, over the past decade, the unity of the 312-year-old union has looked shaky as the desire for Scottish independence has grown.
This has correlated with the rise of the SNP, which was once considered a fringe party, in national and local elections.
Over the past few election cycles, the party has leapt from the fringe and become a major Scottish political force.
At this election, the SNP is on track for a landslide and has already claimed a high-profile political scalp with the defeat of the pro-EU Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson by just 149 votes.
Ms Swinson, who held the seat of East Dunbartonshire from 2005-2015 and then regained it in 2017, lost by just 149 votes. She had only been party leader since July.
The Liberal Democrats had hoped to win over pro-EU voters by pledging to overturn Brexit, but an exit poll predicted they would gain just one seat in parliament compared to the last general election in 2017.
"Some will be celebrating the wave of nationalism that is sweeping on both sides of the border," Ms Swinson said.
"These are very significant results for the future of our country.
"I still believe that we as a country can be warm and generous, inclusive and open, and that by working together with our nearest neighbours we can achieve so much more."
ABC/Reuters
