Theresa May has lashed out at the “divisive and obsessive nationalism” of the SNP, accusing the party of having long planned to use Brexit as a means of engineering a second independence referendum.
The prime minister used a speech at the Conservative party’s spring conference in Cardiff to deepen her rift with Nicola Sturgeon as she criticised the first minister’s policies as “muddle on muddle”.
Declaring her party that of the “new centreground”, May said it was “rejecting the extremes of Labour’s socialist left, Ukip’s libertarian right, and the divisive and obsessive nationalisms of Plaid Cymru and the SNP”.
She added: “We have seen that tunnel vision on display again this week. The SNP argue that we should break up the UK because we are leaving the EU.”
She accused Sturgeon’s party of campaigning three years ago, in the first independence referendum, to take Scotland out of the EU altogether.
“And now they apparently say that an independent Scotland would no longer seek to become a member of the EU after a vote for separation.
“It is muddle on muddle.”
The prime minister claimed that more Scottish people voted no in 2014 than backed remain in 2016, and said the almost half a million SNP voters who backed Brexit seemed to “count for nothing”.
“It is now clear that using Brexit as the pretext to engineer a second independence referendum has been the SNP’s sole objective ever since last June.”
May hit out at Sturgeon in a speech that she began by stressing her party’s unionist policies, and said she would deliver for the whole of the “precious United Kingdom”.
Talking about a shift to the centre, she also stressed a willingness to be more interventionist in markets than her predecessor, hinting at action in the energy markets “very soon”.
May said she supported competitive markets but was ready to “step in” for consumers if they were seen to be broken.
“One market that is manifestly not working for all consumers is the energy market,” she said. Energy is not a luxury, it is a necessity of life. But it is clear to me – and to anyone who looks at it – that the market is not working as it should.”
May said prices had risen by 158% in 15 years, hitting ordinary working families with soaring heating and lighting bills.
“The vast majority of consumers, especially those with the lowest incomes, are on the most expensive tariffs. Relying on switching alone to keep prices down is clearly not working.”
She said her party did not end the inefficient monopolies of nationalised energy companies to replace them with a system that trapped the poorest.
“So we are looking very closely at how we can address this problem, and ensure a fairer deal for everyone. We will set out our plans very soon.”
