Brexit - A second independence referendum is "highly likely" in Scotland after the UK voted to leave the European Union, Scotland's first minister says.
Nicola Sturgeon during an EU referendum debate in London. Photo: AFP PHOTO / BUZZFEED NEWS / FACEBOOK
Nicola Sturgeon said it was "democratically unacceptable" that Scotland faced the prospect of being taken out of the EU against its will.
She said the Scottish government would begin preparing legislation to enable another independence vote.
Scotland voted in favour of remaining in the EU by 62 percent to 38 percent.
Britain as a whole has voted to leave, by a margin of 52 to 48 percent, prompting British Prime Minister David Cameron to announce that he will stand down by October.
At the country's parliamentary elections last month, the Scottish National Party manifesto claimed the right for the Scottish Parliament to hold another referendum if there was a "significant and material change" in circumstances since the 2014 referendum.
Pro-independence 'Yes' supporters ahead of Scotland's 2014 referendum. Photo: AFP
One such circumstance was Scotland being taken out of the EU against its will.
At a news conference in Edinburgh, Ms Sturgeon said: "It is, therefore, a statement of the obvious that a second referendum must be on the table, and it is on the table."
Ms Sturgeon said the Scottish cabinet would meet on Saturday and she would make a statement on Tuesday.
The first minister said there was now a significant divergence between Scotland and the rest of Britain, which she "deeply regretted".
Call for "indyref 2"
As the EU referendum count turned decisively towards Leave, the online conversation in Scotland immediately turned to the possibility of another vote on independence.
The idea has been long been dubbed "indyref 2" and that hashtag shot to the top of Twitter's trends list shortly after the vote result became clear.
A majority of voters in all 32 council areas in Scotland voted to stay in the EU.
There were 3,987,112 eligible voters at this election but only 67.2 percent cast a vote.
However, when Scotland went to the polls for the Scottish independence referendum less than two years ago, voters were more keen to have their say, and almost 85 percent of the electorate took part.
Meanwhile, the Spanish government has called for joint sovereignty over Gibraltar in the wake of the vote.
Gibraltar - a peninsular enclave bordering southern Spain - has been a British territory since 1713 but Spain continues to claim sovereignty over it.
Its population of 30,000 voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU.
-BBC
