LORNA Slater, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, has hit out at Michael Gove after he dismissed a second referendum arguing that "Scottish voters aren't daft".
Gove claimed that if he walked down the streets of Alloa Scots wouldn't be pushing for an independence referendum, instead they'd be asking aboout "team UK".
In response Slater tweeted: “The Michael Gove interview on BBC this morning was pure comedy.
“He should definitely come to Alloa and walk through the streets and ask people what they think of him.
“14/10 would bring popcorn.”
The Michael Gove interview on BBC this morning was pure comedy. He should definitely come to Alloa and walk through the streets and ask people what they think of him. 14/10 would bring popcorn 🍿
— Lorna Slater (@lornaslater) May 9, 2021
Gove was speaking on the Sunday Show in light of the SNP’s fourth successive Holyrood election win. Between them and the Greens, pro-independence parties won 72 seats.
The Tory minister said: "Scottish voters aren't daft and that's why they recognise that independence is a distraction from what we need to concentrate on at the moment.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon 'wouldn't rule out' bringing indyref2 forward by spring 2022
"Do you think that if you and I were to walk down the street in Alloa today, that people would be saying 'Hey, where is out independence referendum? Come on let's get on with that'.
"No. They would be saying, first of all why aren't we investing more in the NHS? They'd also be saying, what are you doing across the UK, what is team UK doing in order to make sure that our economy recovers?
"But it's easy for commentators to return to this question because it invests the political conversation with a particular sense of drama. But it is not what people are concentrating on."
UK Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove MP says Scottish voters ‘recognise independence is a distraction from what we need to concentrate on at the moment’.#BBCElections #TheSundayShow
— BBC Scotland News (@BBCScotlandNews) May 9, 2021
➡️ https://t.co/x0RXTTnz7l pic.twitter.com/moH9ECuaw7
Gove also spoke on the Andrew Marr Show, where he claimed that the election result was a thank you to the UK Government for the rollout of vaccines.
READ MORE: Michael Gove says Westminster won't take Scottish Government to court over indyref2
When asked if the Nicola Sturgeon would be taken to court if a second referendum was held, he said: “We’re not going near there.”
#Marr: Will the government take the Scottish parliament to court if they legislate another independence referendum?
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) May 9, 2021
Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove: "No"
#BBCElections https://t.co/WkY0sdFAEd pic.twitter.com/gHAaSxbcE4
The Cabinet Office minister insisted: “The result of all of these elections was an instruction to politicians: thank you for the vaccination programme, the UK Government has delivered that across the whole country, now please concentrate on recovery.”
He told the BBC show that “a majority of people who voted in the constituencies voted for parties that were opposed to a referendum”.
Gove also argued that Sturgeon “didn’t secure a majority as Alex Salmond did in 2011” which he claimed is a “significant difference”.
He added: “Alex Salmond, when he requested a referendum, every party in the Scottish Parliament agreed that it was appropriate to have a referendum given that he had secured a majority.
"It is not the case now – as we see – that the people of Scotland are agitating for a referendum.”
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