Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon speaks at the parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland, January 19, 2021. /Reuters

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Sunday that she will seek a referendum on independence if her Scottish National Party (SNP) wins elections in May, even if there is continued opposition from Westminster.

"I want to have a legal referendum, that's what I'm going to seek the authority of the Scottish people for in May and if they give me that authority that's what I intend to do: to have a legal referendum to give people the right to choose," Sturgeon told BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

Recent polls have consistently shown more people in Scotland now support independence than oppose it. Brexit, which a majority of Scottish voters opposed in 2016, has also contributed to frustration with the UK and a deepening rift between Holyrood and Westminster.

However, Scotland needs a green light from the UK to hold a referendum and Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly spoken out against one, calling them "once-in-a-generation" events. Scotland last held a vote on the issue in 2014 and 55 percent of voters at the time rejected independence. But this was before Brexit took Scotland, along with the rest of the UK, out of the EU.

To bypass Johnson's opposition, the SNP plans to request a Section 30 order that would allow Edinburgh to pass laws usually approved in London. If this is refused, the SNP would push through its own legislation to prepare for a referendum and "vigorously" oppose a legal challenge from London.

"The polls now show that a majority of people in Scotland want independence. If the SNP win the Scottish election in a few months' time on proposition of giving the people that choice, then what democrat could rightly stand in the way of that?," Sturgeon said on Sunday.

Observers have predicted a landslide win for the SNP in Scottish Parliament elections in May, and Sturgeon has also consistently polled higher than her counterpart south of the border over her handling of the pandemic this past year.

A Sunday Times poll over the weekend found that 50 percent of Scottish voters wanted another independence referendum in the next five years, although only 22 percent thought Scotland would be financially better off if independent. The same poll saw 49 percent of people support independence, with 44 percent preferring to remain part of the UK.

(With input from AFP, Reuters)