A second referendum on Scottish independence "must happen next year", the country’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has insisted.
Ms Sturgeon told the Scottish National Party conference she will ask the British government to approve the measure within by the end of the year.
She said Westminster had "no right" to block the request adding that its opposition to a second referendum was "not sustainable".
But Ms Sturgeon also acknowledged a new round of voting would have to be given parliamentary consent if the result was to be recognised internationally.
"My call is that the referendum must happen next year,” the SNP leader told delegates in Aberdeen.
"And we are getting ready. By the new year, we will have completed our legislative preparations. We are already working to update the independence prospectus.
"And I can confirm today that before the end of this year, I will demand the transfer of power that puts the legality of a referendum beyond any doubt.
The British Government has repeatedly said it will not grant a Section 30 order, which paved the way for the 2014 independence referendum.
This round saw Scottish voters opt to remain in the UK by 55 per cent to 45 per cent.
But Ms Sturgeon said she was “utterly sick of Westminster” and Brexit, declaring it was “time to place Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands.”
By parting with the rest of the UK, she said Scotland could be a “new country founded on hope and a vision of shared humanity and compassion, a light in a world that seems dark”.
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An independent Scotland, as part of the EU, would have a “unique advantage” which could make it a “magnet for global investment,” she continued.
“We will be in the EU single market and the closest neighbour to our friends in the rest of the UK,” the First Minister said.
“A bridge between Europe and the UK, making our country a magnet for global investment.
“That’s what I call the best of both worlds.”
With a general election “imminent” Ms Sturgeon, said her party would fight that campaign with a “clear, simple and unambiguous” message.
“Vote SNP to demand independence and secure Scotland’s right to choose,” she vowed.
“The SNP will never put the Tories into power,” she went on, “but I have a message for any Westminster party that wants SNP support.
“If you don’t respect Scotland’s right to choose our own future at a time of our own choosing, don’t even bother picking up the phone.”
While she insisted Brexit was a “disaster” she added it was a “symptom of a deeper problem”.
“That problem is the Westminster political union,” she said. “For Scotland, Brexit shows that the Westminster system is broken.”
Therefore, Ms Sturgeon told the conference, her government had a “cast-iron mandate for an independence referendum”.
“We don’t just have a right to offer the people of Scotland a choice over their future,” she said
“In the circumstances now Scotland faces, we have a duty to do so.”
