UK PM holds crisis talks in Scotland on brink of Brexit

British Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday traveled to Scotland to try to avert its independence bid while also fighting a political crisis in Northern Ireland in the frantic final days before she launches Brexit.

With Britain still reeling from a terror attack at the gates of parliament, May is preparing to embark on a journey out of the European Union this week that will change Britain and the EU forever.

Ahead of her talks with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, May said she wanted "a more united nation" and would fight for the interests of all parts of Britain once exit negotiations with Brussels begin.

But Sturgeon wants Scotland to remain in the European single market when the rest of Britain leaves and the Edinburgh parliament is expected to back her call for a new independence referendum with a vote today.

May will send a letter to EU President Donald Tusk with Britain's formal departure notification tomorrow, opening up a two-year negotiating window before Britain actually leaves the bloc in 2019.

The Sunday Times newspaper reported that the letter would run to eight pages and British media said it would be handed over in person by Britain's EU envoy Tim Barrow.

May will also address British MPs on Brexit, nine months after the country voted by 52 percent in June in favour of leaving the EU, the first country to do so.

The EU is expected to provide an initial response by Friday and an EU summit on April 29 will come up with a more detailed strategy but the talks themselves are not expected to start until May at the earliest.

In Northern Ireland, Britain is seeking an 11th-hour solution to the political deadlock in Belfast following the collapse in January of the British province's power-sharing executive.

Northern Ireland voted for the UK to stay in the European Union and the border with the Republic of Ireland, an EU member state, is a concern for negotiators.

Scotland also voted overwhelmingly for Britain to stay in the EU.