Davidson urges PM to say no to another Scots poll

Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson urged the prime minister to oppose moves for a new independence referendum.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson during her address to the Policy Exchange conference titled The Union and Unionism - Past, Present and Future, in central London. Monday May 21, 2018. Photo: John Stillwell/PA WireScottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson during her address to the Policy Exchange conference titled The Union and Unionism - Past, Present and Future, in central London. Monday May 21, 2018. Photo: John Stillwell/PA Wire
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson during her address to the Policy Exchange conference titled The Union and Unionism - Past, Present and Future, in central London. Monday May 21, 2018. Photo: John Stillwell/PA Wire

Ms Davidson used yesterday’s Policy Exchange seminar in London (see link below to main story) to state the SNP was “weaponising” Brexit to push for a fresh independence poll.

She said: “The SNP clearly thinks that they can weaponise Brexit to move to another independence vote.”

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Theresa May has already rejected the idea of a second referendum while Brexit is taking place.

With SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon saying she will “restart the debate” on Scottish independence this week as the findings of her party’s economic growth commission are revealed, Ms Davidson said: “My advice to the prime minister is that if the question is the same, the answer should be the same.”

Ms Sturgeon has said she will consider the timing of an independence vote when more is known about the Brexit outcome in the autumn. A spokesman for Mrs May said it was not the time for “another divisive referendum”.

Ms Davidson told the government it needed to act to strengthen the Union in the wake of the Brexit vote.

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In remarks that appeared to be at odds with Environment Secretary Michael Gove’s claim at the same conference that the EU withdrawal vote had brought the UK closer together, Ms Davidson warned the Tories against complacency, saying that the Union “continues to be under threat”.

The Tory leader called for more government agencies to be moved out of London, and suggested a joint England/Scotland bid to host the World Cup, but with both countries fielding separate teams.

Ms Davidson told the Policy Exchange event: “We’ve had more devolution in Scotland, we now need more Union too.

“We remain far too London-centric as a nation. No other comparable developed nation is as dominated by its capital city quite as much as we are.”