Boris Johnson today told Nicola Sturgeon that nowhere near enough time has passed since the 2014 Scottish independence referendum to require a rerun.
Speaking on his first visit to Scotland since the general election last year, Mr Johnson said the ‘Union is a fantastically strong institution’ as he outright rejected the SNP leader’s demand for another border poll.
Mr Johnson reminded Ms Sturgeon that the vote six years ago was billed as a ‘once in a generation’ event.
The Prime Minister said: ‘That is not a generation by any computation and I think what people really want to do is see our whole country coming back strongly together and that is what we are going to do.’
Meanwhile, overnight Mr Johnson had suggested the coronavirus lockdown ‘could have spelled disaster’ for Scotland if it was independent.
He said it was the UK’s ‘massive purchasing power’ that had boosted the supply of PPE in Scottish hospitals and would mean access to ‘millions of doses of promising vaccines’.
Mr Johnson’s comments in Ornkey will fuel further Scottish nationalist anger after they earlier accused him of treating Scotland like it is ‘too wee, too poor or too stupid’ to cope on its own.
The PM said the Union had saved 900,000 Scottish jobs during the coronavirus crisis and its ‘sheer might… has been proven once again’ by the pandemic.
The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford suggested the PM viewed Scotland as a minor partner in the United Kingdom.
A number of recent opinion polls showed that support for Scottish independence is now more popular than staying part of the UK.
Boris Johnson today visited Scotland for the first time since the 2019 general election campaign
The PM, pictured holding crabs in Stromness, used the trip to reject Nicola Sturgeon’s demand for a second Scottish independence referendum
Mr Johnson suggested that it was too soon to hold a rerun of the border poll and that the ‘Union is a fantastically strong institution’
The PM will claim that being part of the Union had saved 900,000 Scottish jobs during the coronavirus pandemic. But the SNP’s Ian Blackford accused the PM of treating Scotland like it is ‘too stupid’ to cope on its own
During his visit today, Mr Johnson met with businesses hit by the coronavirus outbreak and visited military staff to thank them for their efforts during the crisis.
However, in a sign of growing tensions between Downing Street and Holyrood, there were no plans for Mr Johnson to meet with SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Ms Sturgeon had said yesterday that she would be willing to meet with the Prime Minister.
The SNP leader has called for another Scottish independence vote to take place this year but Mr Johnson has repeatedly ruled it out.
Today he made clear he believes not enough time has passed to require another vote.
He said: ‘We had a referendum in 2014. It was decisive, it was I think by common consent a once in a generation event and what we have seen throughout this crisis is the importance of the strength of Union in dealing with certain crucial, crucial things.
‘Supporting people through the furlough scheme, the work of the army and the armed services in testing, in moving people around.
‘Now of course through Barnett consequentials we have put another £250m into the NHS in Scotland to make sure we are ready for the winter because we have got to be clear that this thing has not gone away.’
Pushed on whether he believed an independent Scotland could have tackled the coronavirus crisis on its own, Mr Johnson said: ‘What I am saying is the Union is a fantastically strong institution, it has helped our country through thick and thin, it is very, very valuable in terms of the support we have been able to give to everybody throughout all corners of the UK and we had a referendum on breaking up the Union a few years ago, I think only six years ago.
‘That is not a generation by any computation and I think what people really want to do is see our whole country coming back strongly together and that is what we are going to do.’
Speaking ahead of the visit, Mr Johnson had said: ‘When I stood on the steps of Downing Street one year ago, I pledged to be a Prime Minister for every corner of the United Kingdom.
‘Whether you are from East Kilbride or Dumfries, Motherwell or Paisley, I promised to level up across Britain and close the opportunity gap.
‘The last six months have shown exactly why the historic and heartfelt bond that ties the four nations of our country together is so important and the sheer might of our union has been proven once again.’
However, a claim by Mr Johnson that being part of the UK saved 900,000 Scottish jobs during the pandemic has provoked the ire of the SNP.
Ian Blackford said he did not believe that Mr Johnson’s message about Scotland’s apparent dependence on the Union during the coronavirus crisis would be well received during his visit.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: ‘I think he’s going to find that this message is going to go down particularly badly in Scotland.
‘Is he really saying that any other small nation in Europe and any other part of the world doesn’t have the capability to deal with the Covid crisis?
‘I think the days of telling Scotland that we are either too wee, too poor or too stupid really is over.
‘I think what we’ve demonstrated over the past two months in the areas of devolved responsibility and of public health is that the leadership that has been shown by our First Minister (Nicola Sturgeon) is in sharp contrast with the bluster we have seen from Boris Johnson.’
As well as the jobs claim, Mr Johnson has today pledged £50 million for Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles to develop the economy of the islands as part of a growth deal.
The Scottish Government said it will invest the same amount in the islands, meaning every area in Scotland will now receive funding from the joint UK and Scottish government initiatives.
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis today insisted the Government was right to suggest that Scotland was only able to weather the coronavirus impact due to the ‘strength of the Union’.
He told the BBC: ‘The reason we were able to put such massive support in for nearly the one million people whose jobs were protected in Scotland – the £4.6 billion they had from the Treasury, £1.6 billion and half a million jobs roughly for Northern Ireland, similar in Wales as well – that’s because we had the strength of the Union, all four nations together.’
Asked whether he was suggesting that an independent Scotland could not have bailed out businesses and jobs during the pandemic, Mr Lewis said: ‘I’m absolutely being very clear that yes, we as a UK were able to put in place unprecedented support that the Chancellor was able to put in place for businesses, individuals, because we are part of an entire United Kingdom.’
Nicola Sturgeon had offered to meet with Mr Johnson during today’s visit but a sit down with the First Minister has not been scheduled
On the issue of polls showing support for Scottish independence, Mr Lewis added: ‘We should all be very wary of getting too driven by polling, we have seen a few interesting results contrasting to what polling has said over the past few years.’
Ms Sturgeon tweeted this morning to suggest that Mr Johnson’s trip to Scotland would actually help the fight for independence.
She said: ‘One of the key arguments for independence is the ability of Scotland to take our own decisions, rather than having our future decided by politicians we didn’t vote for, taking us down a path we haven’t chosen. His presence highlights that.’
But the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Jackson Carlaw, hit back and accused Ms Sturgeon of ‘refighting arguments the SNP lost in the largest participative vote in Scotland’s history’.
He said: ‘She’s obsessed. Scotland chose a future and a path in the UK. No SNP spin alters facts – it’s the strength of Great Britain protecting jobs and energising recovery.’
The Prime Minister’s visit, as he prepares for his one year anniversary in Downing Street, comes after a surge in poll support for Scottish independence in recent months.
Two Panelbase surveys recently reported that 54 per cent of respondents would like to see Scotland split from the UK.
The same polls predicted the SNP will win a majority of seats in the Scottish Parliament at next year’s election.
Scotland voted against becoming an independent nation by 55 per cent to 45 per cent at a referendum in 2014.