THE SNP have summarily dismissed “stupid claims” made by Douglas Ross after he accused the party of “wasting" time on independence debates at Holyrood.
The Scottish Tories totted up the minutes spent discussing the issue in the last Holyrood term, announcing a total of at least 1488 minutes.
The party said the SNP "wasted" 17 hours passing the Referendum Bill, with a further eight hours spent debating the constitutional question and devolution in the past five years.
READ MORE: Douglas Ross would have 'voted against' same-sex marriage if he had the chance
Ross commented: "The SNP wasted more than 1400 minutes of Parliament’s time on another referendum that Scotland didn’t want.
"During that time, drug deaths soared and our schools continued to slide down international league tables.
"The SNP took their eye off the ball and the damage was disastrous.”
The assertions were given short shrift by the SNP, who hit back the Scottish Tory leader.
"This election requires serious politicians with serious ideas for the leadership and direction of this country,” an SNP spokesperson said. “Mr Ross is clearly not up to the task.”
They added: “He might be happy wasting his time on stupid claims like this but we are not going to waste time on responding, instead we will continue our focus on getting Scotland through the pandemic, building a strong recovery and keeping Scotland in safe hands with the experienced leadership of Nicola Sturgeon."
READ MORE: Poll predicts SNP, Greens and Alba will form large pro-independence majority
The Referendums (Scotland) Act 2020 was passed by MSPs in December 2019. It details the administration and governance of referendums on any issue determined by Holyrood.
In March of this year, the Scottish Government published a draft referendum bill. It set out plans for the question and timing for indyref2.
According to the latest Holyrood election poll, pro-independence parties are set to win 80 seats.
The Panelbase survey, carried out for ScotGoesPop, predicts the SNP will miss out on an overall majority. However, it projects a pro-independence majority of 31 seats with the SNP on 61, Greens on 11 and Alba on 8.
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