Scotland’s Nicola Sturgeon Sets Out Plan for Independence Vote

EDINBURGH—Scotland’s leader Nicola Sturgeon laid out plans to hold a fresh independence referendum in October 2023, attempting to break a legal logjam on any potential secession by referring the legality of a vote to the U.K.’s Supreme Court.

Her move Tuesday appears set to escalate a long-running standoff with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Mr. Johnson has repeatedly rebuffed Ms. Sturgeon’s requests to authorize a referendum on leaving the U.K. after pro-independence parties secured a majority in elections to Scotland’s parliament last year, saying an earlier referendum in 2014 settled the question. The independence camp lost that vote by 45% to 55%, but Ms. Sturgeon and her supporters say the political landscape has changed since then, notably with Britain’s exit from the European Union, which a large majority of voters in Scotland opposed.