Boris Johnson blasts the SNP’s ‘obsession’ with Scottish independence

Millions of people would still be waiting to be vaccinated in an independent Scotland, Boris Johnson suggested today as he blasted the SNP’s ‘obsession’ with breaking up the UK.

In an address to the Scottish Conservatives‘ spring conference the Prime Minister hailed ‘the UK’s collective strength’ in tackling the coronavirus pandemic.

And he turned both barrels on Nicola Sturgeon‘s party, accusing it of working to ‘to turn us all against one another’.

Mr Johnson gave a 15-minute address virtually to the conference, in which he said there was a ‘pent-up tidal wave of opportunity and investment’ heading Scotland’s way.

He praised the ‘broad shoulders of the UK Treasury’ which had poured £13.3billion into the UK economy to support public services, plus protection for hundreds of thousands of jobs and businesses.

And in a blunt assessment of the success of the vaccine rollout across the UK, he said: ‘It was work on behalf of the whole of the United Kingdom that secured access to more than 400 million doses of seven types of vaccine that have been distributed now across our country.’

It came as a new poll found that only a quarter of Scots would support holding a second independence referendum in the next year, while 45 per cent say it should not take place for ‘the next few years’. 

In an address to the Scottish Conservatives’ spring conference the Prime Minister hailed ‘the UK’s collective strength’ in tackling the coronavirus pandemic.

And he turned both barrels on Nicola Sturgeon's party, accusing it of working to 'to turn us all against one another'

And he turned both barrels on Nicola Sturgeon’s party, accusing it of working to ‘to turn us all against one another’

The Panelbase poll for the Sunday Times found 25 per cent supported holding a referendum in the next 12 months.

Some 30 per cent said they would support a referendum in the next two to five years while 45 per cent agreed with the statement ‘there should not be another Scottish independence referendum in the next few years’.

The poll also found support for a Yes vote stood at 46 per cent, with No on 47 per cent. When ‘don’t knows’ are excluded, this put the weighted support for both Yes and No at 50 per cent each.

Mr Johnson has already made clear that he will not grant a second independence referendum even if the SNP triumphs in May’s Scottish Parliament elections.

Today he cited the success of the vaccination rollout as proof we are better off together, saying: ‘It shows that the great British spirit that saw us through so much adversity in the past lives on in us today.’ 

The PM’s speech came amid signs the feud between Scottish First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon and her predecessor Alex Salmond is damaging the party’s push for a second independence poll. 

The SNP has been rocked by the feud over the Sturgeon-led SNP government’s handling of sexual assault charges against Mr Salmond, which were all dismissed by a court last year.

In the Commons this week, MPs will have their first opportunity to use parliamentary privilege to discuss the row. Former Brexit Secretary David Davis is expected to say the Holyrood parliament lacked the powers to get to the truth of the affair – and call for it to be given Westminster-style powers.

Wading into the SNP today, Mr Johnson said: ‘I find it incredible that the SNP would choose this movement, again to push their campaign for separation.

‘Just when everything is beginning to reopen again, when we will soon be reunited with our friends and family, the SNP think this is the time to turn us all against one another. To start another political fight.

‘Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised by this, it is their party’s obsession. Yet surely even they have a sense of priority, of what is important right now?

‘The SNP can see after the impact of coronavirus that people would want time to renew their lives and to rebuild relationships that have become stretched.’

Speaking before the PM, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said Scotland would still be in the 'vice-like grip' of coronavirus if it had followed SNP advice on vaccinations.

Speaking before the PM, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said Scotland would still be in the ‘vice-like grip’ of coronavirus if it had followed SNP advice on vaccinations.

Speaking before the PM, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said Scotland would still be in the ‘vice-like grip’ of coronavirus if it had followed SNP advice on vaccinations.

He hailed the vaccination programme against the virus as being a success for the UK, insisting: ‘Had we followed the SNP’s advice on vaccines and waited for the flat-footed EU, we would still be in the vice-like grip of the pandemic instead of confidently looking forward to better days.

‘There can be no more eloquent expression of the success of the Union than this brilliant UK-wide approach.’

The UK, Mr Jack said, has developed a ‘Covid-19 vaccination programme that is the envy of the world’.

He described this as being as a ‘truly astonishing achievement’ and on a ‘scale that dwarfs anything since the war’.