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| - Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Thursday there would be no "moral justification" for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson preventing the devolved nation from holding another independence referendum in the next five years. Sturgeon, who leads the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP), said in a speech marking the launch of its manifesto, ahead of local elections next month, that the people of Scotland have the right to decide their own future. "If after this election there is a simple democratic majority in the Scottish Parliament for an independence referendum, there will be no democratic, electoral or moral justification whatsoever for Boris Johnson or anyone else seeking to block the right of people in Scotland to decide their own future," she said. Although the SNP has previously vowed to hold a referendum by the end of 2023, Sturgeon did not detail a specific timeframe and said she would wait until the coronavirus pandemic had eased. She added that her party has no plans to call a separate referendum on whether an independent Scotland should join the European Union. Scotland voted to remain in the bloc in the 2016 poll on EU membership, but the UK-wide poll saw 52 percent backing the Leave side. People in Scotland will vote to elect new members of its devolved parliament in Edinburgh on May 6, with the SNP -- currently the largest party -- hoping an increase in seats could serve as a mandate for another independence vote. UK Prime Minister Johnson, who must sanction any official referendum, has repeatedly ruled out doing so, arguing the 2014 vote when Scots comprehensively rejected breaking away from the UK was a once-in-a-generation event. But the SNP -- buoyed by largely positive polling over Sturgeon's stewardship of the pandemic -- is hoping electoral success will test Johnson's resolve. Launching the party's manifesto, Sturgeon said the pandemic had "turned life as we know it upside down", and the time was right to "build a better nation". She announced an eye-catching bid for votes by promising a massive increase in health expenditure, vowing to boost spending on the state-run National Health Service by at least 20 percent if re-elected. Investment in the NHS is already at record levels, but the pandemic has placed exceptional pressures on the service, the SNP leader said. The pledge contrasts with Johnson's government, which sets health policy in England and has come under fire for proposing a 1.0 percent pay increase for NHS workers. Douglas Ross, who leads the opposition Scottish Conservatives, this week claimed the SNP would shelve any promises on order to focus instead on securing another independence referendum. An Ipsos MORI poll recently conducted suggested the SNP is on course to win 70 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, with the pro-independence Scottish Greens set to capture 11 seats. Some 55 percent of Scots voted against independence in 2014 but the SNP argues that Brexit -- which a majority of Scots opposed -- has dramatically changed the political calculus. srg/jj/pvh
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