Scottish nationalists to PM Cameron: You cannot rule out another referendum

Scottish nationalists cautioned British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday that he could not rule out giving Scotland another independence referendum if Scots voted for one in a parliamentary election.

On Sunday, Cameron ruled out another independence referendum despite spectacular gains by Scottish nationalists in the May 7 election, saying Scots had "emphatically" rejected a breakaway in last year's referendum.

Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon said there could only be another independence vote if Scots voted for a party which proposed one in a Scottish parliamentary election. One is due in May 2016.

"I can't impose a referendum against the will of the Scottish people but nor can David Cameron rule out a referendum against the will of the people," Sturgeon told the Scottish parliament. "It is no secret to anyone that the SNP supports independence," she said, adding that the general election was not about independence.

Sturgeon has previously refused to say whether she would include a referendum pledge in her 2016 Scottish election manifesto. Scots voted 55-45 against independence in a referendum last September, but the SNP's energetic campaigning convinced many Scots, even some who do not want independence, that it was the best party to represent them in the British parliament.  

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