Thread by @euronews

The SNP hopes it can capitalise on the 'perfect storm' of a damaging Brexit, Boris Johnson's scandal-prone Westminster government and the perception that Sturgeon has has handled the COVID pandemic reasonably competently. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧 euronews.com/2021/12/09/aye…

Since Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party won another term in office at Scottish Parliament elections in the spring, with an increased vote share, there’s been a steady uptick in diplomatic outreach. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Foreign diplomats have recently been keen to engage officials in Edinburgh as well as London. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

And Sturgeon boosted her own international profile by holding talks with world leaders and activists during the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. 🌍

It’s clear there’s a new focus on external relations ahead of another planned independence referendum. 🗳

The charge is led by Scotland’s de facto foreign minister, Angus Robertson.

Most opinion polls show a majority of Scots are anti-independence, but Robertson says the plans for a new referendum in 2023 hope to build on a trend that shows a shift in the underlying numbers towards more support for independence, compared with the unsuccessful 2014 vote. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇪🇺

Robertson says the detailed debate around independence will help convince many of the estimated 20% of undecided or previous "no" voters who are open to the idea of independence to shift to the ‘yes’ camp. 🗳

Before getting into the political minefield of another independence referendum, the Scottish government is pressing ahead with its own external affairs plans for Europe.

It’s upgrading its current presence in Copenhagen and establishing a brand new presence in Warsaw. 🇩🇰🇵🇱

Nicola Sturgeon’s diplomatic efforts have not gone unnoticed in European capitals, especially after the 2016 Brexit referendum when a majority of Scots voted to remain in the EU. 🇪🇺

But Professor Wind strikes a note of caution when it comes to planning another independence referendum. 🗳

“It’s also very important not to push it too quickly because they already had one shot at independence, and you cannot keep having referenda where you lose.”

The Scottish government has also worked to develop engagement strategies tailored for bilateral relations with the US, China, Canada, India and Pakistan.

And a high profile role at COP26 was the icing on the cake. 🌍

In the UK, Gethins says, there is a “huge amount of ambiguity” when it comes to foreign policy matters.

“And if there’s ambiguity, there’s opportunity.” 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

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🇬🇧 Should the UK government grant Scotland another independence referendum? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿