Scottish Independence Calls Could See Queen Elizabeth's Reign End With Union Collapsing On 6/2/21 at 5:29 AM EDT Queen Elizabeth II faces a new challenge as she approaches the end of her reign—amid mounting calls for a second Scottish independence referendum. The Scottish National Party (SNP) First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned Prime Minister Boris Johnson a new poll is now a case of "when not if," after a landslide win in the May local elections, The National reported. Sturgeon wants to hold the vote by 2024, according to The Herald, raising the prospect Elizabeth could face seeing Scotland break from the U.K. at the tail end of her era.