TEHRAN- The Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has expressed strong confidence of a second referendum on Scottish independence that she says could take place in October next year. The Scottish National Party leader says “Scotland – over generations – has paid a price for not being independent.”

Britain's top court has already started to hear arguments to allow the secession vote to take place without the approval of British Prime Minister Liz Truss and her government. Downing street has conveyed to the Scottish National Party (SNP), headed by Sturgeon, the government’s strongest opposition to the move.

However, the SNP says last year's Scottish parliament elections, which saw a majority of pro-independence lawmakers elected, changed the game. The party won the elections on the basis of providing independence to Scotland and therefore says the party has the democratic mandate by voters to push ahead with a referendum.

Asked during an interview on whether she was confident that this vote will materialize, the First Minister of Scotland said, "Yes, I am confident that can happen."

Sturgeon has promised that a defeat in the Supreme Court will result in her party fighting the next UK-wide election, due to be held in 2024, solely on a platform of whether Scotland should be independent, making it a 'de facto' referendum. She has previously said that this would be a last resort.

Responding to a question by the news presenter on how confident Sturgeon is after she had promised to the country that under her plan Scotland is set to have a referendum next year, she replied, “Supreme court next week will consider the question of does the Scottish parliament have the competence to legislate that referendum. There is little point in speculating the outcome of a court hearing. But should the answer to that be yes, we have the plans ready to go to legislate the work on refreshing and updating the substantive case for independence is well underway. In fact, that will continue over the course of the next few days."

The Scottish First Minister added that should a democratic path be blocked by Downing Street and if the route by which it would be right to consider and decide the independence issue (which the SNP insists is a lawful constitutional referendum) it is because the government fear the democratic choice of the Scottish people.

“Then for me and for the SNP and for people who support independence, the choice is then simple. We put our case to people in an election or we give up on Scottish democracy. I want to be very clear today, I will never, ever give up on Scottish democracy,” Sturgeon declared.

In a 2014 plebiscite, which the British government reluctantly approved, the people of Scotland rejected independence by 55% to 45%. However, many politicians including those in the SNP have argued the vote for Britain to leave the European Union two years later was the game changer.

Pro-independence campaigners argue that as voters backed pro-independence parties in elections for the Scottish parliament last year, there was a mandate for them to bring forward a bill to hold a referendum in October 2023. There have also been strong arguments that since the majority of Scots voted against Brexit during the UK’s referendum to leave the European Union, Scotland should be given the chance to return to the bloc.

Pro-independence activists further argue that the changing economic climate in the UK which has seen inflation hike to record levels and poverty levels increasing day by day gives Scottish people the right to take financial matters into their own hands amid disastrous economic policies by London that critics say are favoring the rich. Sturgeon says Scotland will build an economy based on renewable energy, creating a new $22.1 billion investment fund if it becomes independent.

Should Scotland break away from the United Kingdom, then money would be delivered in the first decade and would be funded with remaining oil revenues and the "responsible" use of borrowing powers, the Scottish first minister has revealed, the SNP says.

"A fund like this could support a massive program to decarbonize housing, cut fuel bills and reduce fuel poverty," she told her Scottish National Party's annual conference in Aberdeen.

"It could finance the building of thousands more affordable homes, invest in local renewable energy projects, help communities own assets and wield more influence over their use.

"It will help the transition to net zero, build resilient communities, and kick-start the sustainable economic growth so important for our newly independent nation."

One key issue of debate before the first independence vote was how strong the Scottish economy would be after being free. Some critics say the pro-independence camp did not prepare for this argument too well. Sturgeon says more details would be released next week when her SNP-led government in Edinburgh publishes a new paper on the economic case for independence for the nation of 5.4 million people.

But she said that unlike the UK government in London, no license to frack for gas would ever be granted in Scotland. UK Prime Minister Liz Truss last month promised to lift a ban on fracking for shale gas, in place from 2019, in order to boost energy security; something that is shrinking by the day because of Western sanctions on Russian energy supplies.

Sturgeon took aim at Truss for failing "utterly" in the UK government's duty to mitigate the impact of a cost-of-living crisis, which has seen energy bills soar amid the Western sanctions on Russian supplies. Instead, she criticized the ruling Conservative party for taking a decision to cut taxes for the richest in an unfunded plan that has spooked markets and weakened the pound.

“Ordinary people were paying the price, she argued, with the economic turbulence and loss of confidence weakening the argument that Scotland benefited from being part of the United Kingdom. They have created the worst cost of living crisis in the G7; And saddled us with the second lowest growth in the G20. They are intent on stoking industrial strife, demonizing workers and provoking a trade war. Businesses and public services are struggling for staff because freedom of movement has ended. Our young people have been robbed of opportunity,” Sturgeon told the SNP’s Aberdeen party conference.

Sturgeon's speech came a day before the UK Supreme Court considered the application about whether to allow Scotland to hold a new vote on independence in October next year without government approval. The Scottish government's most senior legal adviser approached the court earlier this year in order to get legal clarity on the matter.

Both Prime Minister Liz Truss as well as her predecessor Boris Johnson have ruled out transferring powers to the devolved administration in Edinburgh to hold the referendum.

The SNP has pledged to take an independent Scotland back into the European Union. The so-called "indyref2" will be "consultative" and only proceed with UK Supreme Court approval, the SNP-led government has promised. Should it do so, a vote in favor of independence would still need approval from both parliaments in Edinburgh and London.

If it fails, Sturgeon promised that the SNP would make the next general election, due by January 2025 at the latest, a de facto vote on independence.

One of the economic crises facing voters across the UK and leading calls for a second vote is the energy shortages. Britain's energy regulator Ofgem has urged consumers to reduce their energy usage "where possible", the Financial Times reported, less than a week after Climate Minister Graham Stuart claimed that the country will not be asking consumers to use less energy.

The fear in Downing Street is amid the many economic crises facing the government. Scottish voters will this time, take the opportunity, overwhelmingly vote to part ways with the United Kingdom.