英國退歐之際再遇蘇格蘭獨立挑戰

Nicola Sturgeon issued a demand on Monday for a second Scottish independence referendum, handing Theresa May the challenge of keeping the UK united just as she grapples with the country’s plans to leave the EU.

蘇格蘭首席大臣尼古拉?斯特金(Nicola Sturgeon，見上圖)週一正式要求舉行第二次蘇格蘭獨立公投，這讓特里薩?梅(Theresa May)在應對英國退出歐盟(EU)計劃之際面臨保持聯合王國統一的挑戰。

The Scottish first minister’s call for a vote by spring 2019 — around the time Britain is scheduled to leave the bloc — means the UK faces another battle over Scottish independence only a few years after the “once-in-a-generation” referendum in 2014.

蘇格蘭首席大臣提出的最遲在2019年春季（差不多正是英國將脫離歐盟的時候）舉行獨立公投的要求意味着，在2014年“一代人一次”的獨立公投過去僅幾年後，英國再次面臨圍繞蘇格蘭獨立的角力。

Ms Sturgeon appeared to take Downing Street by surprise with her speech on Monday morning, disrupting plans by Theresa May, the UK prime minister, to invoke the EU’s Article 50 exit clause this week and thus start the two-year “divorce process”.

斯特金週一上午發表的演講似乎讓唐寧街感到意外，這擾亂了梅本週觸發歐盟《里斯本條約》第50條(Article 50)、啓動爲期兩年的“退歐程序”的計劃。

Officials said Mrs May was likely to wait until the last week of March before doing so, even though her government was confident on Monday of gaining parliament’s final authorisation for the move.

官員們表示，梅很可能會等到3月最後一週纔會啓動退歐程序，即使她領導的政府週一相信此舉將獲得議會的最終授權。

The Scottish National party leader accused the UK prime minister of having “not moved an inch” in response to calls for a special deal on Brexit for Scotland, which voted by a large majority to remain in the EU in the Brexit referendum last year when the UK as a whole opted to leave.

身爲蘇格蘭民族黨(Scottish National party)領袖的斯特金批評稱，對於在英國退歐時爲蘇格蘭爭取一項特殊協議的呼籲，英國首相“沒有任何響應”；在去年的英國退歐公投中，蘇格蘭大部分人投票支持留在歐盟，而聯合王國作爲一個整體選擇脫離歐盟。

“All of our efforts at compromise have been met with a brick wall of intransigence,” Ms Sturgeon said. Brexit threatened Scotland’s economy and its diverse society, she added.

斯特金表示：“我們所有的妥協努力都碰壁了，對方毫不妥協。”她補充稱，英國退歐危及蘇格蘭經濟及其多元化社會。

A Downing Street spokesman refused to say whether Mrs May would allow a second referendum, which has to be approved by Westminster. He suggested the prime minister would make her position clear after a vote by the Scottish parliament — where there is majority support for independence — on the issue next week.

唐寧街發言人拒絕透露梅是否將允許二次公投，此舉須獲得英國議會的批准。他暗示，梅將在蘇格蘭議會下週就此事投票後明確其立場，蘇格蘭議會大部分議員支持獨立。