Edinburgh, Dec 7 (AFP) Scotland's nationalist leaderaccused the British government today of being "totally andutterly incompetent" on Brexit, saying the current situationshowed that Scotland should be independent.
"This week, this Tory UK Government -- strictly speaking,it's a Tory/DUP UK government -- has been shown to bedissembling, mendacious and totally and utterly incompetent,"First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said at a Scottish parliamentsession in Edinburgh.
British Prime Minister Theresa May was close to strikinga deal on the Irish border with European Commission presidentJean-Claude Juncker on Monday, until Northern Ireland'sDemocratic Unionist Party (DUP) expressed its opposition.
The DUP keeps May in power after she lost her majority ina general election in June, giving it disproportionateinfluence over the government.
Willie Rennie, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats,urged Sturgeon to use her influence to build momentum for asecond Brexit referendum, claiming that London Mayor SadiqKhan "is on side".
Sturgeon said the Liberal Democrats, who oppose a secondScottish independence referendum, were being "selective" intheir support for referendum reruns.
She said that the case for a second Brexit referendummight one day "become difficult to resist", but that theimmediate priority was to convince the British parliament ofthe need to keep Britain in the European single market andcustoms union.
"If Labour was to get its act together, and if (Labourleader) Jeremy Corbyn was to get his act together, I believethat position could command a majority in the House ofCommons," she said.
But she said "the real lesson" of the past week was thatScotland "will always be at the mercy of reckless decisionstaken by Tory governments at Westminster" unless it becameindependent.
"The sooner we are in control over our own future here inScotland the better, and this week has proved it," she said.
Scotland voted in favour of staying a part of Britain by55 per cent in a 2014 referendum, and voted to remain in theEuropean Union by 62 per cent in 2016.
The most recent polls suggests support for independencehas risen to 47 per cent, and support for remaining in the EUis up to 68 per cent. (AFP)CPS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.