ONE of the USA’s biggest and most respected newspapers has told its readership of the possibility of Brexit leading to Scottish independence.

The Los Angeles Times is one of the most influential newspapers in America, with the fifth-largest circulation of any American paper and a huge following online. It is the only major newspaper with its headquarters on America’s west coast, and its journalism has won many Pulitzer Prizes. It also has considerable ownership of television stations.

Last week, it told its readers of Boris Johnson’s self appointed status as Minister for the Union.

Christina Boyle of the LA Times reported on the “widespread criticism” of the Prime Minister’s handling of the pandemic. She said: “Scotland’s leader is deemed to have done a better job – and Johnson is now having to face an uncomfortable question: Could this self-styled minister for the union be reading its last rites instead?”

Michael Sturrock, founder of the NoToYes website told the paper: “Brexit has been the fundamental turning point for me and for so many people. The big issue for me is getting back my European citizenship. I’m devastated, really, and so angry.

“I’m no longer convinced that staying in the UK is what the democratic will of Scotland is or the best way to achieve the kind of society we want. Independence is the way we can get that.”

Professor Sir Tom Devine told Boyle that Brexit had been the “gift from the gods” for First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP.

“What seems to have happened is a slow burn in terms of the consequences of Brexit,” said Devine.

“There is a growing sense that the nations are going in different directions.”

The National: Professor Sir Tom Devine said Brexit was a ‘gift from the gods’ for the First Minister and the SNPProfessor Sir Tom Devine said Brexit was a ‘gift from the gods’ for the First Minister and the SNP

Contrary to many other accounts in the American press, the LA Times explains to its readers the importance of the Holyrood elections in May and how the way the Scottish Government is perceived to have handled the Covid pandemic could influence voters.

Devine said: The perception is Sturgeon has handled the pandemic much better than Boris Johnson. The reality might be somewhat different, but it doesn’t matter a damn. The perception is that she’s done a brilliant job. They can’t stand Johnson up here.”

Political analyst Coree Brown Swan told the paper that the “centrifugal forces” being felt in Scotland and Northern Ireland were unlikely to fade away.

“There is a sense of a union in peril … a struggle to articulate the case for the union in a post-Brexit world,” she said.

“Everyone is focused on surviving the current crisis, but you do have calls for an independence referendum [in Scotland] this year or next. If you see independence happening in Scotland, does Scotland become the tipping point?”