Sturgeon says autumn 2018 would be "common sense" date for Scottish independence vote: BBC

Autumn 2018 would be a "common sense" date for any second Scottish independence referendum, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said in an interview with the BBC.

Sturgeon said she would take things forward at "the pace that I think is right for the country" but no final decision had yet been made on holding such a vote. Sturgeon, elected leader in 2014 after an unsuccessful referendum to break away from the United Kingdom, has long said she will seek to give Scots a second vote if they are forced into a "hard Brexit" that would end their preferential access to the EU's single market and free movement of labour.

The "sheer intransigence" of the British government over Brexit could lead to a second Scottish independence referendum, the head of the devolved Scottish government had warned last month.

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