Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed that she will ask for permission from parliament to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence. <br/><br/>Ms Sturgeon said she wanted a vote to be held between the autumn of 2018 and the spring of the following year. The Scottish First Minister said the move is needed to protect Scottish interests in the wake of the UK voting to leave the Eropean Union. <br/><br/>She said she would ask the Scottish Parliament next week to request a Section 30 order from Westminster. The order would be needed to allow a fresh legally-binding referendum on independence to be held. <br/><br/>If it gets parliamentary approval, this will be the second such Scottish independence referendum after 2014, when the region had voted to remain part of the UK. Scotland had rejected independence from the UK by 55 per cent in the September 2014 vote.<br/><br/>The First Minister said the second referendum had become necessary because of the UK Government's failure to fully take Scotland's interests on board in the Brexit process.<br/><br/>Scotland, in contrast to the rest of the UK, had voted to remain in the EU in last June's referendum. <br/><br/>Sturgeon's speech came ahead of a debate in the House of Commons where MPs will consider the Article 50 bill today. <br/><br/>British Prime Minister Theresa May is getting closer to invoking Article 50 to trigger negotiations for Britain's exit from the EU as the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill comes up for its final vote.<br/><br/>Sturgeon believes she can win a second independence referendum this time around because of the implications of Brexit for the country and to resist being forcibly taken out of the EU single market.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon today said that she will be seeking the Scottish Parliament's permission to hold a referendum on Scotland's independence from the United Kingdom. <br/><br/>Sturgeon wants this referendum to be held between the second half of 2018 and first half of 2019 for Scotland to be able to have a say over its relationship with the European Union (EU) post-Brexit.