Scottish leader seeks more backing, new independence push

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) - Scotland's leader has called on supporters to increase the vote for her Scottish National Party in a May election, part of a renewed push for independence from the United Kingdom.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told her party's spring conference Saturday that strengthening Scottish Nationalist control of the Parliament in Edinburgh would set the stage for a revived independence campaign.

Sturgeon's SNP holds 56 of Scotland's 59 seats in the British Parliament in London. It is polling strongly ahead of the May 5 vote for the 129-seat Scottish Parliament, which the SNP has narrowly controlled since 2007.

Sturgeon hopes to stage a new Scottish referendum that would overturn a September 2014 vote in which 55.3 percent decided to keep Scotland in the United Kingdom alongside England, Northern Ireland and Wales.