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Boris Johnson has insisted that he is not opposed to the return, days after he described it as a disaster in Scotland.
Speaking to Scottish Conservatives via a video link on Saturday, Johnson said his comments had been reported “not entirely accurately” and that he had been referring to “the way the SNP has handled the return in Scotland”.
“Just because I have criticized the performance of the refund does not mean that I want to oppose the refund as a concept,” he said.
Johnson accused the SNP of having a lousy record in office, leading to “plummeting educational standards, low business confidence and less satisfaction with public services.”
“The key is to have policies that show how refoulement can work for Scotland, for the people of Scotland, rather than the SNP’s obsession with making refoulement work against the rest of the UK,” he said.
The prime minister also called for cooperation between England and delegate nations on the coronavirus pandemic, saying now was not the time for “division or distraction over our national constitution.”
“Covid-19 does not care about constitutional arrangements and whatever our political differences,” he said. “We must all work together at this time to protect the health and employment of the people of Scotland.”
Addressing Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP, Johnson said that “to address the shared and common threat that is Covid-19, the focus on separation must stop.” However, he also thanked the prime minister and her government for cooperating with Westminster and the other delegated administrations during the pandemic.
SNP Deputy Leader Keith Brown described Johnson’s comments as “a nonsense speech that shows exactly how much thought and consideration the prime minister really gives to Scotland.”
“Zero effort, zero consideration, zero thinking, just 10 minutes of hollow nothing past more weasels diverting from their mistake in revealing that they think the return has been a disaster,” he said.
Brown asked Johnson to apologize for “insulting the democratic choice of the people of Scotland and the litany of toxic conservative policies, from austerity to a disastrous Brexit amid a devastating pandemic.”
He said: “Once again the unreliable Johnson has shown that the Conservatives do not care about the needs of the people of Scotland. The only way to adequately protect Scotland’s interests is to become an independent European country. “
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross accused the SNP early Saturday of using the return to further its ambition for independence, rather than helping individuals and communities.
“It’s not about the return,” he said. “But where we have a problem is a nationalist government that uses devolution to promote its ambition for independence.
“I think we should use decentralization to help people and communities in every part of Scotland” rather than “help the goals of an individual political party to separate Scotland from the rest of the UK.”
