Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has unveiled what she called a “refreshed” case for independence.

She told a press conference in Edinburgh that her government had an “indisputable mandate” for a second independence referendum.

Ms Sturgeon was launching the first of a series of papers setting out the case to break away from the UK. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the 2014 referendum result should be respected.

The first minister said it was now time to set out “a different and better vision” for Scotland. She said it was time to talk about independence and then make that choice.

Ms Sturgeon insisted she won last May’s election with a “clear commitment to give the people of Scotland the choice of becoming an independent country“, and that Holyrood had a “decisive majority” of MSPs in favour of Independence.

However, she conceded that a future referendum faced challenges, including what she described as an issue of process. She said Holyrood’s power to hold a vote was “contested”.

If a referendum bill was introduced without Westminster agreement it could be challenged in the courts.

Before the 2014 referendum, the Scottish government struck an agreement with the UK government which transferred authority on a temporary basis to Holyrood. This was called a section 30 order.

The UK government has so far shown no indication that it would be willing to do so again.

Ms Sturgeon said any referendum “must be lawful”, and that only parties opposed to independence would benefit from doubt about the process.

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