Independence case ‘damaged by Ukwide Covid response’
The case for Scottish independence has been undermined by the Uk-wide response to the Covid-19 pandemic, cabinet ministers have claimed.
The “union has worked”, according to defence secretary Ben Wallace, and the case for leaving will "unpick" if there was another referendum campaign.
Cabinet office minister Michael Gove insisted the "four nations" approach to pandemic has been behind the UK'S successfulvaccine programme and will drive the recovery from the pandemic.
Their intervention came after 20 polls in a row show that a majority of Scots now support independence and the Scottish Government says a pro-independence majority in May's Holyrood vote will be a mandate for another referendum.
"The debate around independence has always fluctuated,"
Mr Wallace told BBC Scotland's Sunday show yesterday.
"But when it comes down to no longer playing the man but playing the ball in a referendumcampaign or sometimes in election campaigns, then what we find is that the arguments unpick and people get serious about the debate."
Polls suggest that one factor in the spike in support for independenceis the lack popularity which boris johnson has north of the border. But Mr Wallace, a former MSP, suggested blaming leaders is an old tactic of Nationalists.
"When I started in Scottish politics it was all Thatcher's fault, then it was Tony Blair's fault, then it was even Gordon Brown' s fault when he was from Fife. And now it's currently the current Prime Minister's fault. I've seen that all before
"But when you start to play the ball, as for example with the currency debate in the last referendum campaign, it all slowly falls part.” Mr gove said in a sunday newspaper article the UK'S vaccine roll-outhasbeenworld-leading and compared it with the "stuttering performance" in Europe where there are growing recriminations over the slow pace of vaccine programmes.
"We are all in this together," he added: "And what we have learned along the way is the crucialpart that pooling our knowledge, sharing our experiences, learning from each other and working together across the UK will also play in us building back better and stronger from the pandemic.”