INDYREF2 will happen and Scotland’s future cannot be decided in Downing Street, a former Scottish first minister has told Boris Johnson.

Writing in the Scotsman, former Labour leader Henry McLeish said traditional Unionists were seeking to "deny democracy and say no to a second referendum".

He said that Westminster cannot “continue to ignore” the half of the country which votes SNP and suggested that attacks on the party had called into question “the legitimacy of their voters”.

McLeish says that, although independence need not happen, it is likely if the Prime Minister “continues his brutish, cynical, and muscular approach to devolution”.

The former first minister adds: “The Union seems incapable or unwilling to change and is holding back a reimagined nation.

“The idea that Scotland only requires more Union Jacks and political coercion is foolish and reckless.”

The use of the Union flag across the four nations of the UK is now “more prominent than it has ever been”, according to acclaimed author and professor of modern British history at King’s College London Professor David Edgerton.

READ MORE: The Union as we know it is over, international media told at press event

Edgerton said last week that the UK Government’s reliance on flying the Union flag was “a symbol of the collapse of Britain as a great nation”.

Writing in his Scotsman article today, McLeish echoed another eminent historian, Sir Tom Devine.

McLeish (below) argues: “Scotland and Wales are seen instead as being out of step, irritating and ungrateful. This dismal view of the future requires Scotland to be brought to heel.

The National:

“After the election result, Johnson and the Tories must change. Their current position is ruinous to the idea of working out a different future. The old political union is not fit for purpose.”

Speaking to The National in April, Devine said that Johnson's Tories believe Scotland is “over-privileged within the Union and not even willing to be grateful to England”.

McLeish further calls on Unionists to outline a positive case for the UK remaining together under Westminster, which he says is stuck in “the principles of 19th century power, absolute sovereignty, and exceptionalism”.

READ MORE: Tories think Scotland is 'over-privileged and ungrateful in UK', Tom Devine says

McLeish goes on: “Traditional Unionist parties seek to deny democracy and say no to a second referendum, but the case for a new Union is never made. Independence is not being tested, because no alternative is in play.

“Saying no to democracy is not a vision or a constitutional alternative and neither is status quo Unionism.

“This is the time for a constructive dialogue and a new constitutional settlement for Scotland. Johnson must not treat Scots like fools. A radical shift in Union thinking and tactics is long overdue.”

The former first minister asserts that “there will be another referendum”, saying it will come three to five years after the Covid crisis.

He suggests this timespan gives Unionists “breathing space” and calls on Boris Johnson to abandon his “diehard centralism, nationalism, and populism” and look to become a statesman.