Nicola Sturgeon claims Boris Johnson tearing apart the UK by denying independence referendum

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Nicola Sturgeon has accused Boris Johnson of “taking a wrecking ball to the idea of the United Kingdom” as she prepares to announce her new plans for a Scottish independence referendum.Speaking the day before she gives a statement to the Scottish Parliament to outline the next steps towards holding a vote in 2023, Sturgeon sought to frame the Conservatives as democracy deniers.The Scottish Government is working towards holding a vote in October next year but will not be granted legal powers by Prime Minister Boris Johnson under a Section 30 order to stage one.READ MORE: Sturgeon to lay out independence plan to HolyroodBut SNP ministers have so far failed to formally request a Section 30 order from the UK Government - the legal mechanism that would allow Holyrood to stage a referendum without fear of a challenge in court.In a statement ahead of revealing how she will get around the legal impasse Sturgeon said: “Westminster is as a voluntary partnership of nations.”“A Tory Government with just six MPs from Scotland, supported on this issue by Labour, is seeking to deny the democratic right of the people of Scotland to choose their own future.”“In doing so they are demonstrating beyond doubt that in place of a voluntary partnership they believe the UK is instead defined by Westminster control.”Sturgeon claimed the campaign for a referendum was now “as much a Scottish democracy movement as a Scottish independence movement”.She added: ““Even previous Tory leaders from Margaret Thatcher to Theresa May said they believed the UK was based on the consent of the people who lived in its constituent nations.“It is time for Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer to respect, not rubbish, the wishes of the people of Scotland and their