Scottish leader warns new PM Johnson on Brexit

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Thursday that Scotland needed an "alternative option" to the Brexit strategy of new British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, as she planned another independence push.

Sturgeon, who leads the separatist Scottish National Party (SNP), wrote to Johnson to say the devolved Scottish Parliament would consider legislation in the coming months for another vote on seceding from the United Kingdom.

Britain as a whole voted by 52 percent to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum. Within Scotland, 62 percent voted in favour of the UK remaining in the EU.

Three years on, Johnson insists that Britain should leave the EU on the October 31 deadline, preferably with a divorce deal but without one if Brussels will not renegotiate the agreement rejected by British MPs.

Sturgeon sent Johnson Scottish government research on the potential negative impacts of Brexit on Scotland.

The nationalist leader told him it was "imperative that you change course immediately to avoid causing lasting harm to the people of Scotland."