Boris Johnson has again ruled out a second “reckless” independence referendum before the country recovers from the covid pandemic.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said on Wednesday that “constitutional wrangling or talk about ripping our country apart” was not a priority, reinforcing the comments of Cabinet Minister Michael Gove that he “can’t see” Boris Johnson agreeing to another vote before the next general election.
The official’s statement added fuel to the constitutional war of words between the SNP government in Edinburgh and the Tory cabinet in London with Nicola Sturgeon attacking Gove’s “sneering, arrogant condescension” on independence.
But the Prime Minister’s spokesman reinforced the point in a briefing to journalists.
He said: “I think the public would rightly accept that now is not the time to have, as the PM said, to have constitutional wrangling or talk about ripping our country apart when what people want is to deal with this pandemic and focus on the economic recovery of the United Kingdom.”
The official would not engage in “hypotheticals” about a referendum vote without a Section 30 order from the UK government.
He added: “ We set out our position on this before. The entirety of the UK Government is focused on tackling the covid-19 pandemic and supporting the economic recovery, the PM said in May a referendum in the current context is irresponsible and reckless.”
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