Voters should have right to choose Brexit or independence - Nicola Sturgeon

Scottish voters should have the right to choose between the "significant and profound" change that Brexit will cause and independence, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The First Minister was reopening a debate at Holyrood over her calls for a second independence referendum.

"Scotland, like the rest of the UK, stands at a crossroads," she told MSPs.

"When Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty is triggered tomorrow, change for our country at that point becomes inevitable."

She added: "It is change that will impact on our economy, not just in the here and now but in the long-term.

"There will be an impact on trade, on investment and on living standards, and an impact on the very nature of the society we live in."

She continued: "My argument is simply this: when the nature of the change that is made inevitable by Brexit becomes clear, that change should not be imposed upon us, we should have the right to decide the nature of that change.

"The people of Scotland should have the right to choose between Brexit - possibly a very hard Brexit - or becoming an independent country, able to chart our own course and create a true partnership of equals across these islands."

Ms Sturgeon is asking for Holyrood's backing to call the power to stage another vote between autumn next year and spring 2019.

The two-day debate on the issue started last week but was suspended as news of the terror attack at Westminster emerged.

MSPs will be asked to mandate the Scottish Government to take forward discussions with the UK Government on the details of a section 30 order, the mechanism to transfer the legal powers for a vote.

The Scottish Greens are expected to give the minority SNP government the support needed for the motion to be passed as the other parties have indicated they will vote against it.

Ms Sturgeon met Theresa May in Glasgow on Monday and the Prime Minister has said ''now is not the time'' for another vote, indicating she will reject the SNP's preferred timetable.

Following their discussions, the First Minister insisted the Prime Minister had been clear the terms of the UK's divorce from the EU and the details of a new free trade deal would be known within two years.

''I think it makes it very difficult for the Prime Minister to maintain a rational opposition to a referendum in the timescale I have set out,'' Ms Sturgeon said.

Ms Sturgeon said in recognition of the importance of the triggering of Article 50, if the parliament passed the motion she would delay making the section 30 request until "later this week".

She said: "I want the UK to get a good deal from these negotiations because whatever path Scotland decides to take in the future that is in our interests."

She said she "hoped the UK Government would respect the will of the Scottish Parliament", but if it did not she would set out plans after the parliament's Easter recess on her next steps.

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson accused the First Minister of having a "rushed timetable" for the referendum.

Ms Sturgeon said the Prime Minister had clearly set out at their meeting on Tuesday the UK's exit terms and a free trade deal would be agreed by March 2019, but Ms Davidson said people in Scotland have the "right to see the Brexit process working in practice".

Ms Davidson said the First Minister wants to push for independence regardless of how good a Brexit deal the UK negotiates.

She added: "The First Minister's plan for a rushed referendum with a campaign beginning now without public consent, with no agreement in place for how it should take place, with only one side dictating the timing, the question, the franchise or the rules, would be a farce."

Ms Davidson continued: "Last week, in what was a disgraceful episode, we were shouted at from the SNP benches we were frightened to debate independence.

"We're not frightened but we are sick of it, and most people in Scotland have had enough too."

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said: "Let's not pretend that this SNP-Green push for another divisive referendum reflects the will of the Scottish people because it does not.

"Eighty-five per cent of the population voted in the last referendum and we voted decisively to remain in the UK.

"That is the will of the people and it should be respected.

"So, my message to the First Minister remains unchanged - we are divided enough, do not divide us again."

Ms Dugdale said independence would "result in £15 billion of extra cuts", a figure she said had been "rubbished" by SNP politicians.

"They simply cannot deny the government's own numbers," she added.

"The government's own stats say independence would be catastrophic for working families."

The Scottish Labour leader called on Ms Sturgeon to "roll up her sleeves" and try to secure more powers for Holyrood as part of Brexit.

"This isn't a battle between independence and the status quo, it's about the SNP's never-ending campaign for separation and what the people want and voted for - a powerful Scottish Parliament within the United Kingdom."

Green MSP Andy Wightman defended his party against accusations it had broken its own manifesto pledges by backing Ms Sturgeon.

The party had outlined plans to secure one million signatures on a pro-independence petition before a second vote on the issue.

Mr Wightman said its proposals "for this more participative law-making process in which citizens could trigger a vote in the Scottish Parliament" was the party's "preferred way of deciding to hold a second referendum."

He added: "Contrary to much mis-reporting, it is not the only means by which we would vote in favour of another referendum.

"The two clearest indications of the electorate to date have been the independence referendum vote in 2014 and Scotland's remain vote in 2016.

"They are clearly incompatible without a further choice."

Liberal Democrat MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton said: "We utterly reject the false dilemma this government and the Green Party seek to create in casting this as an unambiguous choice between two unions."

He added: "Such is the division on this issue of the nationalist base this government is trying to ride both horses, but I say to them remain voters will find you out and we shall not be the unwitting fulcrum over which you tip this nation back into the divisions of the past.

"The 2014 referendum caused such friction in our society, one in four report a damaged relationship with a friend or family member as a result of it.

"I would not see Scotland return to such a state of acrimony.

"Successive opinion polls show that the people of this country don't want that either.

"As such, I do not believe the architects of this referendum in those parties who will vote for it tonight have met their own test in the measure of public opinion for bringing it about, but if it comes I will fight it."