The leading Scottish Tory in the Cabinet has told PM Boris Johnson to reject Nicola Sturgeon’s demand for a second referendum.
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said it was “unacceptable” for the Scottish Parliament to be given control over the timing of a constitutional referendum.
And he admitted he had written to Johnson, advising him not to grant a section 30 order to set a legal referendum.
On the BBC’s Politics Scotland programme yesterday, the Tory MP said: “It would be wrong for us to give the right to the Scottish Parliament to set referendums and the context and timings – for the simple reason that Scotland would be plunged into ‘neverendums’.
“Nicola Sturgeon has said she expects a rebuttal from the PM and my advice to him is to say that.”
Jack argued that people in Scotland saw the 2104 referendum as a “once-in-a-generation” event and didn’t want more constitutional change after Brexit.
Mhairi Black, Jack’s SNP counterpart, accused Jack of a U-turn on his previous acceptance of an SNP majority as being a mandate for a referendum.
She said Jack had back-tracked on the nats’ stance that the “union was on the ballot” in last month’s general election.
