Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon delivers her keynote speech at the SNP spring conference | Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images Scotland’s Sturgeon: ‘There will be an independence referendum’ ‘Scotland’s future must be Scotland’s choice,’ says the First Minister.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Saturday her government will present a bill next week in the Scottish Parliament calling for a new independence referendum to avoid taking part in a "disastrous hard Brexit.”

Sturgeon told a conference of her Scottish National Party in Aberdeen that she would act on the promise she made on Monday to call a second independence referendum.

"We are the national party with a truly internationalist outlook," she said, adding that whatever the outcome of the vote, "Scotland's future must be Scotland’s choice."

"There will be an independence referendum," said the first minister, adding that she didn't reach this decision lightly but was forced to trigger the move because of the likelihood the U.K. will be out of the European single market once Brexit negotiations with the EU are completed.

Sturgeon said she fears Prime Minister Theresa May's hard stance in negotiations with Scotland and with the EU means "the Brexit process will hit the rocks."

The Scottish first minister needs the consent of the U.K. government for a referendum to be legally binding. She wants to hold a referendum before the end of the Brexit negotiations, which are likely to start a month after London triggers Article 50 signalling its intention to leave the bloc. May says she will trigger Article 50 by the end of the month.

Sturgeon criticised U.K. Foreign Minister Boris Johnson and Trade Secretary Liam Fox, saying they were obsessed with "rebuilding the Empire. They want to go back in time."

In Scotland's 2014 referendum on independence, over 55 percent of voters elected to stay in the U.K.