UK government is bluffing with cards everyone can see

[chopper]

Utter, utter undemocratic hypocrisy from London.

How so? Two non-comparable scenarios.

The relationship between Scotland and the UK is completely different to the relationship between the UK and the European Union.

The UK does not need to ask the EU for permission to hold a leave/remain referendum: we hold one, and then we serve notice under Article 50 to begin a defined period of negotiations for us to exit.

There is no such mechanism for Scotland to leave the UK. Section 30 of the Scotland Act means they have to ask. There is no defined leaving period. As such, uk.gov can say "yes", or they can say "no", or they can say "actually Sturgeon, now really isn't a good time, as you can probably imagine. We've a lot on our plate. Piss off and come back in a couple of years". Which makes sense.

[SueEllen]

In fact London wanted to split from the UK too .... they may choose to join Scotland

No we don't want any non-English Northern region to drag us down.