Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has once again called for Scottish independence from the UK following the beginning of Britain’s exit process from the European Union.  “Scotland faces being forced to leave the European Union against our will,” Sturgeon said Wednesday at Stanford University in California, during her week-long tour of the United States. Sturgeon said that Scotland’s independence was the best way for her country to build a fairer society and make a positive contribution to the world.

She added that Britain was leaving the EU in the most damaging way possible with regard to abandoning Europe’s single market. Sturgeon also described the Brexit campaign as a dishonest one. “The Brexit debate was reduced to a single slogan,” she said.

Sturgeon maintained that Scotland had enjoyed an economic boom thanks to immigrants, while calls to curb immigration were a key driver in the campaign for Brexit. “It is totally counter-productive for the UK to emphasize immigration over any other aspect of Brexit, but it is particularly counter-productive for Scotland,” Sturgeon said. She emphasized that losing membership in the EU could hurt Scotland’s universities, farms, businesses and more.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has repeatedly insisted that now is not the time for another independence referendum and that all efforts should be focused on securing the best Brexit deal for the whole of Britain. In a referendum last June, Britain voted to leave the EU, sparking outrage in Scotland where the majority was opposed to leaving the bloc. Although nearly 52 percent of Britons opted to leave the EU, some 62 percent of the Scottish people voted against the decision.

Presstv