NICOLA Sturgeon has condemned the “indignity” of a young woman “as Scottish as I am” having to apply to stay in the country she came to as a three-year-old because of Brexit.

The First Minister said the treatment of the fomer child migrant illustrated why she was “determined” to give the people of Scotland a vote on independence.

The woman involved is one of around 280,000 EU nationals living in Scotland who have applied for settled status under a post-Brexit residency scheme which closes on June 30.

The EU Settlement Scheme has already been hit by delays and backlogs, but UK ministers have refused to extend the deadline for applications.

At FMQs, SNP MSP John Mason raised Brexit-related falls in UK food and drink exports, and asked if the people of Scotland should “have the choice between a disastrous Tory Brexit and friendly relations with all European nations” after the Covid crisis.

Ms Sturgeon replied: “Yes, of course they should. Not just because I think they should but because that’s what the people of Scotland voted for in an election a few weeks ago.

“Not only do I think they should, I’m determined that they will.  

“The impact of Brexit is only now starting to hit home for people. 

“I met EU nationals yesterday who were having to go through the indignity of applying to stay in their own country. 

“I spoke to one young woman and this, for me, in some ways, sums up the deep injustice of Brexit.

“A young woman who came to this country at three years old from Germany. Spent periods of her life in the care system here. 

“You listen to her, you would not think she is anything other than Scottish. 

“She is Scottish, as Scottish as I am. But because, at three years old, she came from Germany she is now having to go through the process of applying to stay in her own country. 

“I can’t find the words to say how offended and angry that makes me on behalf of every EU national living in our country.

“I don’t think that’s who we are in our country in Scotland. 

“So yes, after we are through this Covid crisis, I do think we should have the opportunity to decide whether we want to be governed by Brexit Tories or governed as a country by a government we elect ourselves based on the values that most of us in Scotland hold dear.”