THE SNP has said Boris Johnson's appointment of Dominic Cummings as his chief aide "caused lasting harm to the UK and irreparable damage to the Tory government" .

Kirsten Oswald, the SNP's deputy leader at Westminster, said the Prime Minister "completely alienated Scotland" by bringing the Vote Leave Brexit campaign to the heart of the UK Government, and trashed his reputation further by refusing to suspend Cummings after he broke lockdown rules.

Polls published in the aftermath of the Cummings scandal saw the Prime Minister's net approval rating fall to minus 5 (Opinium), with people viewing the Tories as 'incompetent' (43%, +16), 'out of touch' (48%, +11), 'Untrustworthy' (47%, +11) and 'serving their own interests' (48%, +12) (YouGov).

Separately, a poll published by YouGov on Thursday found 74% of Scots think Johnson is doing badly as Prime Minister. It was the fourteenth poll in a row to show majority support for independence in Scotland. 

"Boris Johnson's partnership with Dominic Cummings has caused lasting harm to the UK, and irreparable damage to the Tory Government - regardless of whether he finally resigns amid the Downing Street civil war," she said.

READ MORE: Dominic Cummings to resign from No 10 by Christmas

"The Tory Prime Minister has always been deeply unpopular in Scotland - but his decision to bring the Vote Leave campaign to the heart of the UK Government, and impose an extreme Brexit against our will, has completely alienated Scotland."

She added: "The Tory government has never recovered from the reckless decision to cling on to Mr Cummings when he broke lockdown rules. By refusing to suspend him, the Prime Minister did serious damage to public trust - and cemented his government's reputation as arrogant, incompetent, untrustworthy, and utterly self-serving.

"The fact that senior members of the Tory government are squabbling and fighting among themselves over their highly-paid, taxpayer-funded jobs, in the middle of a health and economic crisis, tells you everything you need to know about their twisted priorities.

"Scotland now faces the prospect of an extreme Brexit, a Westminster power grab, and a growing Tory unemployment crisis. It is clearer than ever, that the only way to properly protect Scotland's interests is to become an independent country."

READ MORE: No 10 officials refuse to disclose details of Dominic Cummings's resignation

Cummings told the BBC last night that his "position hasn't changed since my January blog" when he wrote that he hoped to make himself "largely redundant" by the end of 2020.

This morning Cabinet minister Grant Shapps said Cummings "will be missed" but that he is not surprised the aide is departing, adding: "Advisers do come and go."

Conservative MPs have urged No 10 to use his departure as an opportunity to restore the values of "respect, integrity and trust".

Labour told the Government to focus on the coronavirus pandemic and not "self-indulgent spin doctors".

One of the most controversial figures in No 10, news of his departure came with the BBC quoting a Downing Street source saying he would be "out of Government" by Christmas.

Shapps argued that Cummings, whose infamy was cemented by his trip to Durham during the first lockdown, is leaving because his big projects of coronavirus mass testing and Brexit being "on the near-term horizon now".

"He will be missed but then again we're moving into a different phase," the Transport Secretary told Sky News, adding that "advisers do come and go".

Highly-publicised in-fighting led to the resignation on Wednesday of Cain, with Cummings said to be contemplating his own exit over the treatment of his political ally from the Brexit campaign.

Cain had been offered the post of chief of staff but a backlash among Tories and the Prime Minister's inner circle ultimately led him on Wednesday to announce his departure from Number 10 rather than a promotion.

Conservative MPs have urged Johnson to use events to reshape the team inside Downing Street and reconnect with the parliamentary party, some of whom feel he has been "lost" to advisers over the past year.

Senior Tory backbencher Sir Bernard Jenkin told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's an opportunity to reset how the Government operates and to emphasise some values about what we want to project as a Conservative Party in Government."

He said it is time to restore "respect, integrity and trust" which he said have been "lacking in recent months" between No 10 and Tory MPs.

"I'm not surprised in a way that it is ending in the way it is. No prime minister can afford a single adviser to become a running story, dominating his Government's communications and crowding out the proper messages the Government wants to convey," Sir Bernard said.
"Nobody is indispensable."
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth highlighted the strain being heaped on the NHS and the public by Covid-19, adding: "And Downing Street is paralysed by the soap opera of these self-indulgent spin doctors. It's pathetic."
His colleague on the Labour front bench, David Lammy, said the departures are "like rats fleeing a sinking ship".