MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th December, 2019) David Coburn, a former member of the European Parliament for a Scottish constituency, told Sputnik that First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon does not actually want a second referendum on the country's independence and is only using her calls for London to approve the plebiscite to appease voters.
In UK general election on Thursday, the Conservative Party won an absolute majority in the House of Commons. The Scottish National Party (SNP) also improved standing, winning an extra 13 seats. Sturgeon swiftly confirmed that the SNP would raise the issue of a second referendum, and the government would have no choice but to listen. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, however, reiterated his objection to the vote, saying that the Scotland's population had made their choice clear in 2014 with regard to their country's future in the United Kingdom.
"I have a very strong suspicion that she doesn't want one [referendum] because she knows she will lose it, which is the biggest problem. She's got still 60 percent against independence. People may vote for the Scottish nationalists, but that doesn't necessarily say that they want independence. They may want the Scottish nationalist to push for more stuff for Scotland," Coburn said, when asked whether Sturgeon will succeed in her calls for a new referendum.
By pushing forward a new independence vote, the former lawmaker said that� Scottish first minister was trying to silence her voters since she was "terrified" of them.
"More and more people in Scotland do not believe in Scottish independence because it is economically not viable. People realize that they have pensions, they have businesses, they don't want to put that at risk. She has no idea what Currency she is going to have. And people have already figured that. She doesn't actually want independence; she just wants to get away from England. She doesn't want Scotland to be an independent country, she wants Scotland to be ruled by the European Union. That's not independence," Coburn underlined.
Scots voted to stay in the United Kingdom in the 2014 independence referendum � the result was 55 percent in favor and 45 percent against. However, the nation overwhelmingly rejected Brexit two years later. Sturgeon has since repeatedly said she would not let Scotland be dragged out of the EU.
