Nicola Sturgeon seeks supreme court ruling on Scottish independence vote

First minister tells MSPs she wants to hold second independence referendum on 19 October 2023

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Nicola Sturgeon has set herself on a collision course with Downing Street by asking the supreme court to rule on the legality of holding a new referendum on Scottish independence without Westminster's permission.

In an attempt to force the issue, Scotland's first minister said the lord advocate, Dorothy Bain QC, had written to the supreme court in London at her request, asking it to establish whether the Scottish government had the necessary legal powers to stage a consultative referendum on its own.