A HUGE American audience has heard of the need for Scottish independence after Nicola Sturgeon was interviewed on a major American current affairs programme.
The First Minister was interviewed by journalist Mary Louise Kelly on NPR's flagship programme All Things Considered.
NPR is a long-standing radio broadcaster and one of the biggest news organisations in America, being listened to by millions of Americans every week.
During the NPR interview, Sturgeon spoke about the Covid pandemic, Brexit and the need for independence.
READ MORE: SNP conference: Leaked motion calls for indyref2 legislation at 'clear end' of pandemic
It was while the First Minister was at the Aspen Security Conference, a major forum bringing together government officials, journalists and thinkers to discuss key security issues across the globe.
The event included top US journalists, senior foreign government officials and an American army commander.
Sturgeon told the NPR interviewer that Brexit had strengthened the case for independence and reconfirmed her desire to hold a referendum within the first half of the current parliamentary term.
Asked by Kelly what the timing for a second independence referendum is, Sturgeon replied: "I gave a commitment to the people of Scotland that my focus, as long as we are in this acute phase of Covid, is on getting us through that and into the recovery phase, but at the right time.
"When we're in the recovery, in order to equip ourselves best to recover economically "and socially, Scotland should have that choice of becoming an independent country.
"And I would like to offer that choice in the first half of this term of our parliament, which is, you know, by the end of 2023.
"And we'll judge within that when the best time to offer that choice is."
Nicola Sturgeon on the Daily Show in 2015
The journalist then asked the SNP leader after witnessing how hard it has been for the UK to disentangle from its decades-long partnership with the EU, if she still believed independence from the 300-year-old Union was a good idea.
But Sturgeon said Brexit had only further proved the need for independence.
She said: "In short, yes, I do still think it's a good idea. In fact, that view has been reinforced by Brexit. But we've also learned a lot from the Brexit process.
"Those who argued for Brexit did no preparation. They did no planning. They did no thinking about what Brexit meant in practice. So when the U.K.-wide vote was for the U.K. to leave the EU, nobody had a clue what it meant.
"Nobody had a clue how to take that referendum result and turn it into practice. And so the whole process was chaotic.
"And that's why the process of, to use your word, disentanglement became so vexed and so difficult in the Brexit context. I would never want to put forward such an unprepared, underprepared perspective for Scottish independence."
Sturgeon was then asked about the recent dip in polling for support for independence.
She said: "We see fluctuation, and I think we reached a particular high point. It's dipped a bit since then.
"If we look at this in the historical sweep, at historically high levels, when people in Scotland voted the last time - and I said a moment ago, Scotland wants independence.
"All polls showed now that support for independence is higher. Amongst the younger age groups in Scotland it is, in some opinion polls, as high as 70% support for Scottish independence."
Next, Kelly asked Sturgeon: "Given that Scotland's national security and foreign policy has been coordinated through London these past, you know, centuries, from a purely security perspective, without the rest of the U.K., would Scotland not be much diminished on the global stage in terms of influence, in terms of clout?"
The First Minister responded: "I think the UK has been hugely diminished on the international stage in recent years, largely because of Brexit. The short answer is no, I don't think it would.
"I would see an independent Scotland as being a constructive, multilateralist partner in the international stage. Often when we talk about nationalist or independence movements, people think about, you know, movements that are insular and parochial.
"The reverse is true in Scotland. We partly want to be - I partly want Scotland to be independent so that we can play a better role, a bigger role in the world.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson in Scotland: Independence referendum not on my agenda
"We would see our role in the world as positive, constructive, multilateralist and playing our part in creating a more secure and fairer and more peaceful world. And that, I think, is a role that should be welcomed across the rest of the world."
When asked how the UK's special relationship status with America would change if Scotland becomes an independent country, Sturgeon said: "I think Scotland and the United States would continue to be the closest friends and partners and allies.
"The linked family, business, cultural between Scotland and the United States are long, long, long-standing and I think will last well into the future."
To watch the full NPR interview, click here: https://www.npr.org/2021/08/04/1024833875/first-minister-of-scotland-on-the-pandemic-and-scottish-independence?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&t=1628173707141
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