Scotland can navigate a legal independence vote - Sturgeon - BBC News
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon launches a fresh referendum campaign and says she "stands ready" to negotiate with PM Boris Johnson for the powers to hold one.
Why is this renewed push for independence happening? The answer is simple. The people of Scotland voted for it.

Of course there is plenty of opposition to, and concern about, a second independence referendum but it remains an inescapable fact that in last year's elections to the Scottish Parliament voters returned a majority of MSPs, both SNP and Green, who had pledged to hold one.

When this happened in 2011, there was a referendum. If that was the accepted trigger then, why is it not the trigger now? That is primarily a question for Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The SNP’s argument is that if his Conservative party previously regarded a majority at Holyrood as a mandate for a poll, why is he thwarting the will of Scotland’s voters now?

Having said that, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon must operate in the world as she finds it not as she wants it to be and at today’s news conference the SNP leader simply did not or could not detail the alternative path she intends to follow if Mr Johnson persists in his refusal.

There are also difficult questions for both Ms Sturgeon and Mr Johnson about the "why" as well as the "how" of independence.

Among those for supporters of independence, is it sensible to ditch nuclear weapons with a belligerent Russia at large? Can green energy really replace oil as the engine of the Scottish economy? If leaving the European Union has damaged the UK, why wouldn’t leaving an even older and more entrenched union be much worse for Scotland?

For supporters of the union, aren’t the comparisons with other small European nations set out in today‘s paper an indictment of British failure? Why has the UK, and Scotland within it, performed so poorly on GDP, income inequality, poverty, productivity and other indicators set out in the 71-page document?

In 2014 the prospectus for an independent Scotland was subject to rigorous and detailed scrutiny. Ms Sturgeon’s aim with these papers is to ensure the same scrutiny is applied to the UK.