Scotland wants EU market access, more powers as UK goes for Brexit

EDINBURGH Scotland wants to stay in the European Union’s single market after the United Kingdom leaves the bloc and will push for more powers to protect its interests, the head of its pro-independence government said on Tuesday.

“We are determined to maintain Scotland’s current position in the European single market,” First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said in a paper setting out Scotland’s views about Brexit.

Sturgeon said the option of independence, which Scots rejected in 2014, had to remain on the table and that she wanted to remain a full member of the EU.

“The option of independence must remain on the table,” Sturgeon said in a speech about Brexit. “Brexit is a problem not of Scotland’s making.”

Scotland, she said, needed a fundamental review of its devolution settlement and that powers over immigration were vital to protect Scotland’s interests.

“Scotland’s interests within the UK demand that the powers of the Scottish Parliament be fundamentally revisited,” she said in a foreword to her Brexit proposals entitled “Scotland’s Place in Europe”.

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Sarah Young)