FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon has certainly rocked the Westminster government with her demand for another independence referendum.
The move is taking brinkmanship politics to a new level! However, it remains to be seen whether or not this actual referendum ever takes place!
The First Minister must be well aware that she has to take a large tranche of rural Scotland with her if she is to conduct a successful independence campaign. At this time, this looks most unlikely.
However, her actions have backed Prime Minister Theresa May into a corner. 
For example, Scotland’s important fishing communities overwhelmingly backed a Brexit vote which was seen as returning British sovereignty to our fishing waters. 
These hopes have been somewhat dashed as leaks from Westminster have consistently shown that the PM is prepared to sell fishing ‘down the river’ as a bargaining tool to preserve the London-based financial institutions’ standing on the European and world stage.
As for farming, the few elected Tory politicians here in Scotland have been stressing support for the Defra mantra that control of Scottish farming policy should be repatriated to London following Brexit. This is not the most popular decision this Tory government has ever taken with regard to Scotland.
It is to be hoped, therefore, that as the Brexit negotiations progress, Mrs May will, at the very least, do a u-turn on both her farming and fishing aspirations, if nothing else to keep the SNP at bay – and do both industries a massive favour as a consequence.