THE wife of a top Tory minister has endorsed a plan to starve Scotland of money in a bid to quell support for independence.

Sarah Vine, married to Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove, seemed to back a proposal on social media to cut off Barnett formula funding for Holyrood.

The SNP say it is symptomatic of a Downing Street plot to “slash Scotland’s cash”.

Vine, A Daily Mail columnist and former Times editor, responded on Twitter to a suggestion from Harriet Sergeant, a research fellow at conservative think tank Centre for Policy Studies.

She posted: “To gave [sic] Scotland a taste of independence why not suspend the Barnett formula now. Then let the Scots vote in a year’s time. That way they can see how SNP largess depends on English money.”

Vine commented: “Indeed…”

Several Tory ministers have previously come under fire for suggesting that funding to Scotland should be cut.

The SNP insist Vine’s tweet shows that line of thinking persists at the highest levels of government.

MSP Rona Mackay told The National: "Make no mistake, this is no casual, throwaway line. A plot to slash Scotland's funding goes to the very top of the Westminster Government.

The National: Strathkelvin and Bearsden MSP Rona MackayStrathkelvin and Bearsden MSP Rona Mackay

"High-ranking Tories including Boris Johnson, Priti Patel and Dominic Raab have all voiced displeasure over how much money Scotland receives. They are desperate to slash our cash.

"Just contemplating starving Scotland of access to the taxes we pay is immoral and it exposes how the Tories intend to treat us in the future.”

Johnson has frequently raised objections to money being transferred from London to Edinburgh.

In 2006, he claimed it produced “deeply inequitable outcomes”. Three years later, the Tory leader described it as a “system of amazing political antiquity by which the English taxpayer sends about £20 billion every year to Scotland as a kind of present”.

In 2012, he claimed “a pound spent in Croydon or Tottenham … will generate far more for the rest of the economy than a pound spent in Strathclyde”.

READ MORE: Five quotes about Scotland Boris Johnson would like us all to forget

Such sentiments have been echoed by some of his top ministers.

Home Secretary Patel, speaking in 2012 while she was a backbencher, said growing support for increased devolution and independence presented an “opportunity” to slash funding for Scotland, demanding the country starts to “pay for itself”.

Foreign Secretary Raab tabled a motion in the Commons just two months after the 2014 independence referendum calling for the “outdated” Barnett formula to be replaced.

Responding to Vine’s tweet, Mackay added: "This should be a wake-up call to all of Scotland. The Tories want to take money away from all our crucial public services – from the NHS to the education of our children – and if we don't act to protect our interests that's exactly what they will do.

"It's why more and more Scots recognise that the clearest way to do that is through independence."

A UK Government spokesperson said: "Our commitment to Scotland is absolute. And that’s why we’ve provided the Scottish government with an additional £8.6 billion in funding this year to respond to challenges arising from the pandemic – on top of their baseline allocation of over £35 billion pounds.’’