AN SNP MSP has said that Tories know "full well" there is going to be another independence referendum after it was revealed Michael Gove "misused" public funds meant for Covid contracts to conduct constitutional research.
The SNP are now demanding an inquiry into the misuse of public funds by Tory ministers after it emerged Gove ordered officials to use an emergency coronavirus contract to commission a study on the Union.
It was revealed by the Herald that the work was carried out using a contract given to Public First, a firm run by two of his associates.
Gove has already been found to have acted unlawfully in awarding the £560,000 deal to the market-research firm, owned by James Frayne and Rachel Wolf, who have both worked for Gove in the past.
Earlier this month High Court Judge Justice O'Farrell ruled the deal "gave rise to apparent bias and was unlawful".
READ MORE: Michael Gove 'misused' emergency Covid contract for Unionist campaigning
Evidence published in the High Court judgement on The Good Law Project vs Minister for the Cabinet Office revealed that the services provided by Public First under the emergency Covid-19 contract were extended in July 2020, on the "urgent" orders of Gove, to include qualitative research into "attitudes to the UK Union".
Gove was yesterday appointed to be the Tory government's head of Union policy and has said that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is not likely to grant another independence referendum to the people of Scotland within this current parliament.
He said that the Prime Minister was "completely focused" on recovery from the pandemic, however this is a rollback from previous statements from Johnson that there would not be a referendum until 2055.
SNP chief whip at Holyrood, Gordon MacDonald MSP, commented: “Michael Gove’s comments about a referendum are completely undermined by his own actions.
“Today’s revelations showing the Tories’ misuse of taxpayers’ money to pay for polling on attitudes to the Union shows they know full well there is going to be an independence referendum and they are preparing for it.
“Given the outcome of the Holyrood election – with a clear and unambiguous pro-referendum, pro-independence majority – there is simply no democratic, political or moral justification whatsoever for Boris Johnson or any other Tory ministers seeking to block the right of the people of Scotland to choose our future.
“Any attempt to deny the people of Scotland a choice over their future would be a democratic outrage, however it is increasingly clear that the Tories know there will be an independence referendum - that’s why they have gone into panic mode.
READ MORE: Fury as Michael Gove quotes Proclaimers anthem after Scotland defeat
“As an independent country, we will be in a partnership of equals with the rest of the UK instead of having to put up with Westminster governments we don’t vote for, and the people who live here will decide how we rebuild our country after the pandemic.
“It is essential that people in Scotland have the opportunity to determine their own future – and continued Tory attempts to block the democratic mandate which exists for a referendum will only see support for independence increase even further."
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