Johnson is a lost claws in Scotland

IN A desperate bid to shore up the union, Boris Johnson tries to become the fishermen’s friend in Orkney, holding aloft a crab just as Nicola Sturgeon got her claws out over Scottish independence. On his first visit to Scotland since the election in December, Mr Johnson said: “The union is a fantastically strong institution. It’s helped our country through thick and thin. It’s very, very valuable in terms of the support we’ve been able to give to everybody through all corners of the UK.” He said the Covid-19 crisis had shown the “sheer might” of the UK, with almost 900,000 workers in Scotland benefiting from Government assistance. But support for independence reached a record high of 54% in an opinion poll this month, and the SNP said the PM’S trip showed he was in a “panic”. First Minister Ms Sturgeon did not meet the PM during the visit and tweeted: “One of the key arguments for independence is the ability of Scotland to take our own decisions, rather than having our future decided by politicians we didn’t vote for, taking us down a path we haven’t chosen. His presence highlights that.”

Ms Sturgeon said the financial support was “not some kind of favour” to Scots but paid for by taxpayers across the UK. She spoke out after Mr Johnson argued there should not be another independence referendum even if the SNP wins a majority of seats in next year’s Scottish elections.

Mr Johnson, who also visited the Orkney Cheese Co, said: “We had a referendum on breaking up the union a few years ago... that is not a generation by any computation. What people really want to do is see our country coming back strongly together.”