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Boris Johnson cannot keep Scotland in union against its will, warns Nicola Sturgeon

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon joins SNP's newly elected MPs for a group photo call outside the V&A Museum in Dundee. (Photo by Andrew Milligan/PA Images via Getty Images)
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned Boris Johnson Scotland cannot be kept in the UK against its will (Picture: Getty)

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon warned Boris Johnson on Sunday he could not keep Scotland in the UK against its will.

The First Minister continued to push for a new independence referendum when she appeared on BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

The Prime Minister and his government have repeatedly said they will not approve another vote on Scottish independence, but Sturgeon argued after the SNP won 48 of Scotland's 59 seats in the UK parliament, her party had been given a mandate for one.

Sturgeon, who previously declared she was out to stop Brexit and advance Scottish independence, said: "If he thinks ... saying no is the end of the matter then he is going to find himself completely and utterly wrong.”

"You cannot hold Scotland in the union against its will ... If the United Kingdom is to continue it can only be by consent.

“And if Boris Johnson is confident in the case for the union then he should be confident enough to make that case and allow people to decide."

Below is a clip from her appearance on the Andrew Marr show.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon joins SNP's newly elected MPs for a group photo call outside the V&A Museum in Dundee. PA Photo. Picture date: Saturday December 14, 2019. See PA story POLITICS Election Scotland. Photo credit should read: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire (Photo by Andrew Milligan/PA Images via Getty Images)
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon joins SNP's newly elected MPs for a group photo call outside the V&A Museum in Dundee (Picture: Getty)

The warning followed a conversation Sturgeon had with Johnson on Friday regarding a new independence referendum following his impressive win in the general election.

Of her phone call with the PM, she added: “I wasn’t sure how much he’d had a chance to catch up with the Scottish results.

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“I pointed out to him, politely of course after I congratulated him, that the Scottish Tories, having fought the election on the single issue of opposition to an independence referendum, had lost – lost vote share, lost more than half of their seats.

“It was a watershed election on Thursday and it’s very clear that Scotland wants a different future to the one chosen by much of the rest of the UK.”

Downing Street said that in the call, Johnson “made clear how he remained opposed to a second independence referendum”.