Queen's Speech rejects call to repeat 'once in a generation' independence vote

Downing Street has rebuffed Nicola Sturgeon’s call for a second Scottish independence referendum next year, using the Queen’s Speech to underline its opposition to granting the powers for another vote on Scotland’s future.

Downing Street has rebuffed Nicola Sturgeons call for a second Scottish independence referendum next year. Picture: PA

On the eve of the First Minister’s speech to the SNP conference in Aberdeen, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said that the 2016 referendum was “once in a generation”.

And presenting the government’s programme in parliament, the Queen said that the “integrity and prosperity of the Union that binds the four nations of the United Kingdom is of the utmost importance”.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will address the SNP conference in Aberdeen tomorrow

The government briefed that the people of Scotland voted to decisively to remain part of the United Kingdom and "we will respect this”.

Shortly before the Queen addressed parliamentarians from both Houses in the Lords, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman told journalists: "The Prime Minister has set out his views in relation to an independence referendum. The last vote was described as once in a generation."

Ms Sturgeon has said she wants another vote on Scotland’s future in the UK to take place next year, and is expected to make the formal request for powers to hold a referendum under Section 30 of the Scotland Act before the end of this year.