Gove: Fight election on making UK better

THE next general election should be fought on how to improve Britain rather than focused on Scottish independence, a senior UK Government minister has said.

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, who is also responsible for intergovernmental relations, dismissed Nicola Sturgeon’s attempts to turn the next vote into a ‘de facto referendum’.

He also claimed he considers the First Minister a ‘friend’ rather than a foe and vowed to work with her constructively. Asked on radio station LBC if he would want the next election to be perceived as a referendum on Scottish independence, Mr Gove said: ‘No, I think that the next election should be about how we work together in order to make the United Kingdom work better.’

On what his message would be to Miss Sturgeon in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, Mr Gove said: ‘My message to Nicola is I enjoy working with you on a range of issues and let’s continue to work together in the constructive but pragmatic way that we have on everything from new freeports for Scotland to making sure that together we can look forward to Scotland being in the World Cup in four years’ time.’

Asked if he would describe Miss Sturgeon as a friend or foe, Mr Gove said: ‘Friend.’

His comments came after Rishi Sunak also urged the SNP to work with him on key priorities of most Scots. At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Mr Sunak said: ‘The people of Scotland want us to be working on fixing the major challenges we collectively face, whether that’s the economy, supporting the NHS or indeed supporting Ukraine.’

SNP leader at Westminster Ian Blackford told Mr Sunak the ‘very point of democracy in this union is now at stake’.

The PM replied: ‘The Scottish Government has one of the most powerful devolved assemblies anywhere in the world.’