LET’S BOTTLE ● BRITISH SPIRIT!
Boris’ rallying cry as he says vaccine success story proves case for Union
BORIS Johnson will today deliver a rousing rallying cry for the Union as he urges Scots to bottle the ‘British spirit’ that is defeating the Covid pandemic.
The Prime Minister is expected to vow that the Scottish Tories will ‘cut the SNP down to size’ in May’s Holyrood election – and will condemn Nicola Sturgeon’s ‘obsession’ with holding a second independence referendum.
He will put this country’s world-leading vaccine success at the heart of his battle to protect the United Kingdom, saying it has ‘shown the brilliance of every part of our Union’.
It is a sign that Mr Johnson is ready to make a more positive case for the Union, rather than simply focusing on the risks of independence.
He will lament not being able to ‘visit Scotland, which I love’ in person, as he speaks via video at the Scottish Tories’ spring conference, which is being held virtually due to Covid restrictions.
‘The pandemic has shown how much we can achieve together’
The Prime Minister will also despair at the SNP’s threat to hold an illegal, wildcat referendum rather than focusing on rebuilding the economy, securing jobs and fixing public services.
Mike Russell and Ian Blackford are among the leading Nationalists who have suggested such a vote could happen this year – while Scotland is trying to recover from the pandemic.
Mr Russell has made clear that the SNP will push ahead with a vote even without UK agreement, despite the chaos that a wildcat referendum brought to the streets of Catalonia in 2017.
‘I find it incredible that the SNP would choose this moment to again push their campaign for separation,’ Mr Johnson will say.
‘Just when everything is beginning to reopen again, when we will soon be reunited with our friends and family, the SNP think that this is the time to turn us all against one another.’
Support for the SNP and independence have both dipped in recent weeks, polls show, with a majority now backing the Union once again.
Mr Johnson believes the Nationalists will face a furious backlash if they prioritise separation over people’s livelihoods.
‘The SNP can see – after the impact of coronavirus – that people want time to renew their lives and to rebuild relationships that have become stretched,’ he will say.
‘They know workers are concerned primarily about their jobs and businesses concerned for their future. How can the SNP say that a referendum is the priority to them? It is the last thing they need now.’
He will add: ‘We can build back better – but only if we all come together. Let’s not throw away this British spirit and go back to the divisions of the past, forgetting our collective sacrifice.’
The Prime Minister is also expected to stress how ‘the broad shoulders of the UK Treasury’ delivered an additional £13.3 billion for Scottish public services, protected more than 930,000 jobs, and funded £3.4 billion in loans for 90,000 Scottish businesses. He will also speak emotionally about the human cost of the pandemic, being felt right across the UK.
Mr Johnson is expected to say: ‘We will never forget those who lost their lives and those families who have been left grieving: parents, siblings, children and friends. We mourn every one.
‘Amid the tragedy, this pandemic has shown the kindness and perseverance of the British spirit and how much we can achieve when we all pull together.’
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack will also pay tribute to the UK’s vaccination programme in his speech to the conference today.
He will say: ‘The United Kingdom has a Covid vaccination programme that is the envy of the world.
‘In Scotland, millions of doses of Valneva’s vaccine are rolling off the production line at a high-tech plant in Livingston, ready for approval.
‘Key groups were prioritised for the first injections and now we are moving at such a pace that we hope every adult in the country will have received at least an initial dose of vaccine by late July.
‘It is a truly astonishing achievement, a task on a scale that dwarfs anything since the war.’
Meanwhile, Ruth Davidson yesterday insisted the Tories could prevent the SNP from securing a majority in May’s election.
The former Scottish Tory leader, who led a campaign in 2016 which pushed her party into second and deprived the SNP of a majority, was giving one of her last major speeches before stepping down from the Scottish parliament.
She said: ‘Scotland can’t afford another five years of this divisive, distracting, destructive SNP
obsession. In the midst of a global pandemic, when the only priority should be pulling together to defeat it, to get the country back on its feet, the SNP’s priority is to divide us all over again.
‘No matter who you vote for in your own constituency – and I want as many people as possible to vote for their local Conservative candidate – if you want to stop that SNP majority, you must cast your “party vote” on the peach-coloured ballot paper for the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.’
Last night Mr Russell, the SNP’s Constitution Secretary, said: ‘No one is proposing holding an independence referendum now, but if the people back a post-pandemic referendum in the coming election then democracy must prevail.’