Nicola Sturgeon has said a second independence referendum will become a “legitimate, almost necessary” step unless Scotland secures a special relationship with the European Union before article 50 is triggered. The first minister used a speech in Edinburgh to accuse Theresa May’s government of putting the settlement that established the Scottish parliament under “grave threat” by rejecting Sturgeon’s calls for a special deal. Sturgeon earlier wrote in an article for the Times that her moves towards a second referendum were prompted by the prime minister’s “sheer intransigence”, in a further effort to push May into ... (full story)