Nicola Sturgeon: Don't let Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage decide Scotland's future

Scotland should have the right to determine its own future, writes First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon.
Nicola Sturgeon is leader of the SNPNicola Sturgeon is leader of the SNP
Nicola Sturgeon is leader of the SNP

This is the most important election in living memory - Scotland can't afford five more years of Boris Johnson.

On Thursday, voters in Edinburgh have the chance to escape the chaos of Brexit and lock Boris Johnson out of office for good.

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This election is about who decides our future – the Tory Brexiteers or the people of Scotland.

Edinburgh had the largest remain vote in Scotland and voters here still want to stay in the EU.

But if the Tory party win a majority on Thursday, we’ll be dragged out of Europe against our will.

The only way to escape Brexit on Thursday is to back the SNP to lock Boris Johnson out of Downing Street.

The SNP is the strongest party to oppose Boris Johnson’s damaging Brexit deal and the strongest advocates of Remain for voters across Scotland.

Remain voters have to put their trust in the SNP at this election to kick the Tories out and stop Brexit.

A vote for Labour or the Lib Dems at this election simply risks letting Tory MPs in through the backdoor – letting Boris Johnson fulfil his hard-line Brexit fantasy.

Everyone is fed up with this Westminster mess and after the last few years I can fully understand if you feel scunnered with politics.

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But we need to use this election to send Boris Johnson a message, loud and clear, that Scotland says no to Brexit.

This isn’t some academic debate – Brexit will profoundly affect you, your family and your community. It will harm our economy and our living standards, and it will limit the opportunities of our young people. And it also poses a real threat to public services such as our NHS. That’s the reality.

Under Boris Johnson’s plan Brexit will not be ‘done’ – he hasn’t even started trade talks yet, so we face years of more Brexit wrangling with the very real prospect of a no deal crash-out because of hard Tory demands.

I believe that our best future would be as an independent country - and this election is also a chance to reassert that, whatever people's views on how we should be governed, Scotland has a right to choose that future, not have it imposed on us by Boris Johnson.

I know for a fact we can only realise our enormous potential as a nation if we escape from Brexit and decide for ourselves what kind of country we want to be.

That’s why your vote in this election is so important. If we sit back and do nothing, our future will be decided for us by Boris Johnson and Brexiteer governments we didn’t vote for.

We must come together to make Scotland’s voice heard and the best way to do that is to vote SNP. Only the SNP can lock Boris Johnson out of number 10 and deprive the Tories of a majority.

So my message to the people of Edinburgh is this.

Don’t sit back and let the Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage decide your future for you - stand up and be counted.

Vote SNP on December 12th to escape Brexit and put Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands.