Sturgeon Repeats Call for Scottish Independence Vote Next Year

(Bloomberg) -- Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon repeated her call for another referendum on independence next year and said she will demand the U.K. gives her the power to hold one.

Addressing her Scottish National Party conference in Aberdeen, she said her government in Edinburgh will have completed legislative preparations in coming months.

"We are already working to update the independence prospectus," she said. "And I can confirm today that before the end of this year, I will demand the transfer of power that puts the legality of a referendum beyond any doubt."

The SNP will also campaign in the next U.K. election on the right to hold another vote, she said. In the last one, in September 2014, Scots chose 55% to 45% to remain in the three-centuries-old union with England.

Since then, Scotland voted to stay in the European Union while the rest of Britain opted to leave. Sturgeon called Brexit a "disaster."

To contact the reporter on this story: Rodney Jefferson in Edinburgh at r.jefferson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Sillitoe at psillitoe@bloomberg.net

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