Boris Johnson brings his struggle against Scottish independence to Scotland

He noted how his government has helped deploy vaccines across the UK, including Scotland, faster than anywhere else in the EU, and has provided funding to support public services and subsidize thousands of jobs since start the crisis.

But a majority of Scots now favor independence over the partial autonomy it now has, according to a series of opinion polls, encouraged in part by the perception that the Scottish government has handled the pandemic better than the Scottish government. London. The change predicts what could be the biggest crisis Mr Johnson’s government has faced since leaving the EU.

The Scottish leader, Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon, has benefited from strong approval ratings, thanks in part to his clear message about the dangers of Covid and his willingness to close businesses and schools to maintain infection rates and lower mortality than in other parts of the country. UK

Johnson said the independence debate was an unnecessary distraction and that a previous 2014 vote, in which Scots chose to stay in the UK, should be seen as a one-off event.

“I think talking endlessly about a referendum without a clear description of what the constitutional situation would be after that referendum is completely irrelevant now to the concerns of most people,” he said while visiting a new vaccine plant in Livingston, east of Glasgow. “We don’t really know what it would be like to win that referendum.”

Former British Treasury chief George Osborne said earlier this month that no UK leader wants to be the prime minister to see Scotland leave the 300-year union with England. Its natural resources, universities and exports are an important part of the UK economy and its cultural traditions.

The departure of Scotland would also damage the image of the UK at a time when it is trying to assert itself as an influential voice on the world stage after leaving the bloc.

However, the problem will not go away. Many of those who voted to stay in the UK in 2014 have changed their minds and favored independence. Michael Sturrock is among them. He launched a website called NoToYes to attract other voters thinking about changing sides.

“This is our democratic right to make this election,” said Mark McGeoghan, another convert on the pro-UK side.

The next critical point comes in the May elections to the Scottish Parliament. Mrs Sturgeon’s Scottish national party appears on the track to get the majority of seats and has promised to deliver a referendum.

But London’s refusal to play presents a puzzle: how to deliver a legal and binding vote that will appease the most restless members of its party and also satisfy the EU, where members like Spain care about their own independence movements and may oppose them. se to an independent Scotland joining the bloc.

Mrs. Sturgeon has tried to incite Mr. Johnson to consent to another vote for independence, citing Scottish national poet Robert Burns over the weekend calling him “a timid beast”. Johnson’s statements on Thursday suggest it had little effect.

His party’s current security plan is to propose a referendum in the Scottish Parliament after the May election and see if Mr Johnson’s government accepts or presents a legal challenge. Ultimately, it could end up in the UK Supreme Court, which rules on constitutional issues between Scotland and the rest of the UK, said Aileen McHarg, a professor at Durham University and an expert in constitutional law.

“It shows the determination of the Scottish leadership that, no matter how much an independence referendum is achieved, it is done through some lawful process, either by consensus or through the courts,” he said. “They are well aware that if they take a different approach and apply it to the EU, this process would be vetoed.”

If the court decides that Scotland can hold a referendum, it would be harder for Johnson to oppose it.

It could be one last roll of the dice for the Scottish independence movement, however, at least until there is a change of sentiment in London. People familiar with Mrs Sturgeon’s thinking say her main strategy is to embarrass the UK by allowing another independence referendum by getting a big mandate at the polls in May, which Mr Sturgeon said. Johnson is eager to prevent.

Write to James Hookway to [email protected]