Scotland sees its future in the European Union despite Britain's vote to leave, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Friday, June 24, raising the specter of a new Scottish independence vote and the possible dissolution of the United Kingdom, Reuters reports.

Scotland voted by a margin of 62 percent to 38 percent to remain in the EU in a referendum on Thursday that put it sharply at odds with Britain as a whole, which voted 52 percent to 48 percent to leave.

"Scotland has delivered a strong, unequivocal vote to remain in the EU, and I welcome that endorsement of our European status," said First Minister and Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Sturgeon.

Former first minister Alex Salmond explicitly said Scotland is now likely to push for a second independence referendum after the conditions spelled out in the SNP manifesto before reelection in May appeared to have been met.

One key reason Scots rejected independence in a referendum almost three years ago was because independence meant leaving the EU too. After Thursday's vote, the question is whether some Scots who wavered but eventually voted to stick with the UK in 2014, may now prefer to join the secessionists, Reuters says.

Splitting Scotland from the UK would end three centuries of shared history, upending another successful economic relationship shortly after the now-impending divorce between Britain and the EU.