THE SNP are trying to ‘annoy’ the English into telling Scotland to leave, according to Ruth Davidson.
The Scots Tory leader used a fringe event at her party’s conference to suggest SNP MPs were deliberately hoping to annoy the English into asking Scotland to leave the union.
“It is absolutely incumbent on the SNP and their MPs to get on the UK papers and UK television and get in the homes of people in England and Wales as often as they can to annoy you so you say ‘you whining Scots, will you please just leave?’ It’s absolutely cynical and you should be aware of what they’re trying to do,” Davidson claimed.
Davidson also accused Nicola Sturgeon of abusing the post of First Minister by trying “to exploit the vote on Brexit to try and put independence back on the table.”
The First Minister, Davidson said, did “not speak for the country”.
Earlier in the day, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland David Mundell said any Brexit negotiations would be “a Team UK approach” despite Scotland voting to remain in the EU.
He added that new powers brought in under the Scotland Act 2016 made Holyrood “the most powerful devolved parliament in the world”, giving the Scottish Government “unprecedented power and freedom to govern”.
He accused the SNP of “doom-mongering about Brexit” and called the threat of a second independence referendum “a Sword of Damocles – the single biggest threat to Scotland’s economy”.
An SNP spokesman said: “These comments from the Tories show just how desperate they are to distract the people of Scotland from the mess that they have made with Brexit, putting jobs and livelihoods at risk.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: “Ruth Davidson is right that Nicola Sturgeon does not speak for Scotland but Ruth Davidson should stop pretending she speaks for the Union. The Conservatives have done more damage to Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom than the Scottish nationalists could ever dream of. Brexit and stirring up English nationalism have risked our United Kingdom and the Conservatives are responsible for both.”
Meanwhile, the pound plunged to a new 31-year low against the dollar, which in part helped the value of the UK’s leading companies, the FTSE 100, close just short of a record high.
That list is dominated by companies, like GSK and BP, who earn the bulk of their revenues in dollars but have to report profits in pounds.
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