{"id":6151,"date":"2015-10-15T15:44:10","date_gmt":"2015-10-15T14:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/?p=6151"},"modified":"2015-10-15T15:44:10","modified_gmt":"2015-10-15T14:44:10","slug":"scottish-separatist-leader-eyes-new-election-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/index.php\/scottish-separatist-leader-eyes-new-election-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Scottish separatist leader eyes new election victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Nicola\"<\/a>Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon on Thursday set her sights on victory in regional elections next year but played down the prospect of a new independence referendum in the near future.
\nSturgeon, who is also Scotland\u2019s First Minister, said there should be \u201crespect\u201d for the result of last year\u2019s referendum in which Scots voted 55 percent to 45 percent in favor of remaining in the United Kingdom.
\nSpeaking to delegates at the start of the party\u2019s annual conference, she added: \u201cOver the next few years… I think that support for independence will continue to rise.\u201d
\n\u201cIf there is strong and consistent evidence that people have changed their minds… then we have no right to rule out a referendum,\u201d the 45-year-old said.
\n\u201cI believe with all my heart that Scotland should be an independent country,\u201d said Sturgeon, who has negotiated sweeping autonomous powers for her nation.
\nBoosted by an electoral triumph and a membership boom, SNP members will be meeting in the northeastern Scottish city of Aberdeen until Saturday.
\nSturgeon said on Thursday that the party\u2019s membership had more than quadrupled from 25,000 before last year\u2019s referendum to 114,121 now.
\nShe also launched a broadside against Jeremy Corbyn, the new hard-left leader of the opposition Labour Party who is seen by some observers as a potential threat to the SNP\u2019s stronghold in Scotland.
\n\u201cLabour is unreliable, unelectable and unable to stand up to the Tories,\u201d Sturgeon said, adding that there was now \u201conly one united opposition\u201d in Westminster \u2014 the SNP.
\nSturgeon said the conference will be the \u201claunch pad\u201d for the SNP campaign for elections in the Scottish regional parliament in May next year.
\nThe SNP aims to increase its absolute majority in the election and fight off any potential resurgence of Labour, which used to dominate in Scotland.
\nIt has already grown to be a national opposition party, after taking 56 out of Scotland\u2019s 59 seats in the Westminster parliament in this year\u2019s general election in which voters elected a Conservative majority government and routed the Labour party.
\nAnother impending milestone is Britain\u2019s own referendum on whether or not it wants to remain part of the European Union, which the Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron plans to hold before 2017.
\nSupport for the EU is traditionally stronger in Scotland, and if the country was taken out of the 28-member bloc due to euroskeptic English voters there would be a \u201cgroundswell of anger\u201d in Scotland, Sturgeon has warned.
\nAs well as the coming EU referendum, the conference will address environmental issues and social concerns, under the banner \u201cFairer Scotland.\u201d
\nThe SNP has positioned itself as a strong opposition against Cameron\u2019s austerity program.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\r\n