RISHI Sunak has mentioned "Scottish nationalists" in a major speech about the "extremist" threats facing the UK. 

Speaking at an event in London organised by the Policy Exchange think tank, Sunak claimed that "an axis of authoritarian states"  were attempting to undermine British values. 

In a passage under the heading "The dangers", Sunak listed Russia, Iran, North Korea, antisemitism, "gender activists", and finally "Scottish nationalism" as posing threats to the UK. 

"The dangers that threaten our country are real," he said. 

"There’s an increasing number of authoritarian states like Russia, Iran, North Korea and China working together to undermine us and our values.

The National:

"War has returned to Europe, with our Nato allies warning that if Putin succeeds in Ukraine, they might be next." 

However, the Prime Minister also said that homegrown cultural disputes were also a threat to the UK's "history and identity" - including Scottish nationalism. 

He said: "People are abusing our liberal democratic values of freedom of speech, the right to protest, to intimidate, threaten and assault others, to sing antisemitic chants on our streets and our university campuses, and to weaponize the evils of antisemitism or anti-Muslim hatred, in a divisive ideological attempt to set Britain against Britain.

"And from gender activists hijacking children’s sex education, to cancel culture, vocal and aggressive fringe groups are trying to impose their views on the rest of us.

"They’re trying to make it morally unacceptable to believe something different and undermine people’s confidence and pride in our own history and identity.

“Scottish nationalists are even trying to tear our United Kingdom apart”.

He added that “more will change in the next five years than the  last 30" and claimed "the next few years will be some of the most dangerous yet the most transformational that our country has ever known". 

He then accused of Labour leader Keir Starmer of "scaremongering". 

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“I’m clear-eyed enough to admit that, yes, maybe they can depress their way to victory, with all their talk of doom loops and gaslighting and scaremongering about pensions," he said.

"But I don’t think it will work, because at heart we are a nation of optimists.”

Sunak then said he "couldn't accept" that the UK's problems were due to "14 years of Conservative government" 

"We’ve made progress in the most difficult conditions any governments have faced since the second world war," he said. 

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While detailing the economic turmoil Conservative governments have overseen, Sunak said that the Tories would “always be there” for voters at times of financial difficulty.

He said: “People have been struggling to make ends meet. I know that.

“In the last few years we have seen rising energy bills, mortgage rates, the cost of the weekly shop.

“And I hope I have shown that through my time in office, that from furlough to support with your energy bills, the Government I lead will always be there for you.”