London: Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Sunday said Scotland's Parliament could attempt to block the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union.
Sturgeon said she would "consider" advising the Scottish Parliament to try to use its power to prevent Britain from actually leaving the EU. She said Scottish lawmakers might be able to derail the move by withholding "legislative consent" for a British exit, or Brexit.
"If the Scottish Parliament was judging this on the basis of what's right for Scotland, then the option of saying 'We're not going to vote for something that is against Scotland's interests,' of course, that is on the table," she said of the possibility of withholding consent.
Sturgeon also said she suspected that "the UK government will take a very different view on that and we'll have to see where that discussion ends up".
Sturgeon, whose Scottish National Party has 63 of the 129 seats in Holyrood -- or the Scottish parliament, has already said a second referendum on Scotland's independence from the UK was back on the table.
"A second (Scottish) independence referendum is clearly an option that requires to be on the table, and it is very much on the table," she said on Saturday. Scottish independence referendum in 2014 was lost by the independence seekers when 55.30% people chose to stay with the UK.
Sturgeon vowed to protect Scotland's EU membership and said a fresh independence referendum was possible, less than two years after the last one was conducted in September 2014.
“We will seek to enter into immediate discussions with the EU institutions and with other EU member states to explore all possible options to protect Scotland's place in the EU," Strugen added, hinting that Scotland intends to stay with the EU.
Scotland rejected the Brexit referendum on June 23 with 62% of the voters saying no to the proposal.
