THE SNP have hit out at Scottish Secretary Alister Jack after he claimed that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s unpopularity north of the Border proves Scots have him “all wrong”.
Jack, speaking to the Telegraph, claimed that Johnson’s image problem in Scotland was the fault of the SNP.
The Tory minister said SNP politicians “get up every day and go to work and think, what can I do today to destroy the United Kingdom?”
“They are a campaigning organisation to break up the United Kingdom. So they're never going to portray the Prime Minister in a good light.
"He doesn't say things to wind up the Scots at all. I mean, historically, if you look at his name, he's a lowland Scot himself," Jack said.
He further claimed that Johnson “is all about what Scotland brings”, listing whisky, oil, gas, and research at universities as some of the nation’s contributions to the Union.
READ MORE: Alister Jack backs 'Boris Burrow' tunnel from Scotland to Northern Ireland
He highlighted the Prime Minister’s summer holiday to the Highlands and claimed that, when it comes to Scotland, Johnson’s “heart is 100 percent in the right place”.
The Tory leader stayed in a small cottage near Applecross last year after encouraging people to enjoy a “staycation” rather than going abroad due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Johnson's previous holiday, taken after the 2019 General Election, saw him fly out to the private Caribbean island of Mustique.
The SNP’s deputy leader at Westminster, Kirsten Oswald, said Jack had got the issue wrong.
Oswald said: “The issue with Boris Johnson was never about whether he likes to go on holiday to Scotland - it’s that he refuses to respect the democratic will of the people of Scotland, after pushing through a Tory Brexit that they rejected overwhelmingly.”
The Scottish Secretary also said that as "the pain of Brexit to those people who are passionate about it dulls" Scots will come to grasp "the benefits" of the Union.
He said this would become especially clear as Brexit disappears into the "rear view mirror" and UK Government spending through the pandemic recovery takes centre stage.
In reply, Oswald said Jack’s claims made “no sense”.
The SNP MP said: “Westminster politicians lecturing Scotland that we should be grateful for the UK Treasury using the same borrowing powers an independent Scotland would have, whilst failing to acknowledge that millions across the UK are still without a penny of support to get them through the pandemic simply makes no sense.”
The Telegraph article paints Jack as the “UK's Scottish champion”, who it says “fights his corner on hostile ground”.
Jack, one of just six Tory MPs that Scotland sends to Westminster, claimed that the Scottish media is hostile towards the UK Government and “too easy” on Nicola Sturgeon’s. He cited the BBC’s broadcasting of the First Minister’s coronavirus briefings as evidence of this.
On the subject of Scottish independence, the Tory rejected the idea of another referendum. He said that even if the SNP win an outright majority at Holyrood “they have to stick to the competences that are devolved to them".
He added: "We have been very clear. Now is not the time.”
However, the MP also said that “every Whitehall department has been written to and told to get focus on strengthening the Union”.
Oswald commented: “The UK Government can no longer deny that it’s planning for a Scottish independence referendum, but a last-minute encouragement to Whitehall departments to finally consider [Scotland and the devolved nations] shows the reality of the vacuum at the heart of Westminster.”
READ MORE: Michael Gove says Tory Government plans to 'modernise' constitution after Brexit
Jack claimed the matter of further devolution of powers would have to be looked at by “a constitutional review" or "a royal commission and that's not on the government's agenda at the moment".
In fact, Michael Gove was last year appointed to lead a constitutional review which he has said will “as part of the broader constitutional renovation work, [look at] how to improve the way the UK Government works with all the administrations in the UK”.
In December 2020 Gove said that “either [him] or the Prime Minister will be saying a wee bit more early in the new year about some other ways we can modernise the constitution”.
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