London dismisses Scottish bid for second independence vote

The UK's cabinet office minister dismissed on Sunday the Scottish nationalists' push for a new vote on independence, calling it a "massive distraction" from more pressing matters at hand.

"It's not an issue for the moment. Of course, the people of Scotland, as we saw in the referendum in 2014, they have that right, but it is absolutely important that we concentrate now on the issues in front of us," Michael Gove told the Sky News channel.

He argued that the governing Scottish National Party fell short of an overall majority in Thursday's election, in contrast to the one that preceded the 2014 referendum. The SNP still holds the majority in parliament together with the pro-independence Scottish Greens.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who leads the SNP, said on Saturday that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had "no democratic justification" to block a second referendum, paving the way for a legal battle over the future of Scotland. (ANI/Sputnik)

( With inputs from ANI )

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