British PM May to reject Scottish referendum demand - Times newspaper

British PM May is preparing to reject Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's demand for an independence referendum

LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May is preparing to reject Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's demand for an independence referendum on the eve of the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union, the Times newspaper reported.



"The prime minister has said this would mean a vote while she was negotiating Brexit and I think that can be taken pretty clearly as a message that this timing is completely unacceptable," the Times quoted an unidentified British government source as saying.

"It would be irresponsible to agree to it and we won’t."

The newspaper quoted another unidentified May ally as saying that the prime minister was prepared to be more explicit in the coming weeks and say that preparations for a Scottish independence referendum would undermine Britain’s negotiating position with the rest of the EU.



An earlier report published on the BBC quoted the Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon saying that autumn 2018 would be a “common sense time” for Scotland to hold another independence referendum, once there is some outline of a deal to exit the European Union.

“Within that window, of when the outline of a UK deal becomes clear and the UK exiting the EU, I think would be common sense time for Scotland to have that choice, if that is the road we choose to go down,” Sturgeon, who heads Edinburgh’s pro-independence devolved government, told the BBC.