Nicola Sturgeon has promised that a referendum will be held "in a lawful manner" next year as she set out the renewed case for Scottish independence.
The SNP leader said Scots should “lift our eyes with hope and optimism” as she presented the “advantages and potential” of an independent Scotland and said the status quo is not an option.
She said: “After everything that has happened, Brexit, Covid, Johnson, it is time to set a different and better vision. It is time to talk about making Scotland wealthier and it’s time to talk about independence.”
Sturgeon said she had a “indisputable democratic mandate” to stage a referendum without a Section 30 order granting powers from Westminster if necessary but emphasised a vote would be staged “in a lawful manner”.
In her foreword to the document Sturgeon wrote: “It seems clear from the evidence in this paper that the status quo is not allowing Scotland to fulfil our potential, and that the UK economic model, and Westminster decision-making, are holding us back.
"It follows that if the status quo is not working, we should ask how best to fix it.
“What this – and the papers that follow – will seek to do is to demonstrate that becoming an independent country, while forging a close and constructive partnership with the rest of the UK and with our fellow Europeans, can and will help Scotland match the performance of our neighbours and fulfil our potential."
The First Minister was speaking at the launch of the first in a new series of papers that she says will form an “updated independence prospectus”.
Sturgeon unveiled the first of documents in the Scottish Government’s "Building a New Scotland" series at Bute House in Edinburgh.
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