MICHAEL Russell has rejected Tory pleas for Scots to dismiss a second independence referendum as “a momentous distraction” arguing it is up to voters in May to decide if they want a new say on the country’s future.

The Constitution Affairs Secretary, who is also the SNP president, made the intervention as the Scottish Government prepares to publish a bill in the coming days that will set out the timing and potential question for a second independence referendum.

He was responding to attacks made over recent days by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove and Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross on plans by the Scottish Government to hold a new vote early in the next Parliament.

While Johnson suggested earlier this year he didn’t believe there should be a referendum until 2055, Gove yesterday sidestepped questions on whether the UK Government would agree to a new ballot if the SNP won the election.

“Boris Johnson and Douglas Ross may want to behave as if elections are a distraction from getting their own way but Gove seems a bit less extreme for once,” Russell told The National.

“In reality all depends on what the people of Scotland choose – not what those with no Scottish mandate think or try to do.

“I am content to hear what my fellow citizens want and act accordingly and I would commend that to all those who are trying to put their own narrow interests ahead of those of our country, which so clearly needs a new way forward after the pandemic.”

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Last month Russell told a meeting of Ayr constituency branches that the draft bill paving the way for indyref2 was close to publication.

At the time he confirmed it will be published before Holyrood goes into recess on Wednesday next week, ahead of the election.

The bill was announced by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in the Programme for Government last September. She said it would set out the proposed terms and timing of the poll and establish the question to be asked.

Russell said in February: “We said we would publish it before the Parliament rose and we will. It is a very simple bill, there is nothing complicated about it. The key point is we have said we will put it in front of the people of Scotland at an election and they will have the decision on it.

“It is proceeding according to what we said, it is a simple short bill and people will have the chance to then decide what they want to do – that is democracy.”

Holyrood has already passed the Referendums (Scotland) Bill, which provides a framework for how referendums should be run in Scotland. Another key bill, passed in February, last year widened voting rights to anyone legally resident in Scotland including refugees, those granted asylum and some prisoners.

Russell has previously stated the legislation would be the third part which “opens the door” to indyref2.

“We will put it in front of the people and if people endorse it, that is what we intend to do,” he added. “The challenge is then is the UK Government going to defy the will of the Scottish people?”

Under the SNP’s route map to indyref2, the Scottish Government will again request a Section 30 order from the Prime Minister if it wins the Holyrood elections.

It would then be up to the UK Government to either accept Holyrood has powers to legislate a referendum or it would have to take legal action to try and block it.