Boris Johnson faces new Scottish independence battle as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warns he cannot ‘bludgeon’ the country into line after nationalist vote surge at the election
- SNP now holds 48 of the 59 Scottish seats, up from 35, after Thursday’s election
- Ms Sturgeon believes it strengthens case for a new independence referendum
- But PM ‘made clear he remained opposed’ to new vote, in phone call last night
Boris Johnson was warned no to try to ‘bludgeon’ Scotland into line today as he faced a new front in the battle to see off the independence movement.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon lashed out at the Prime Minister after she achieved her own election triumph north of the border.
The Scottish National Party now holds 48 of the 59 Scottish seats, up from 35, which Ms Sturgeon believes strengthens her case for a new referendum on breaking up the United Kingdom.
Scotland voted 55-45 in 2014 to remain in the Union.
She spoke with the Prime Minister in a phone call on Friday following the election in which the Conservatives swept to a large Commons majority.
Downing Street said that in the call, Mr Johnson ‘made clear how he remained opposed to a second independence referendum’.
Mr Johnson is set to embark on a whirlwind 100 days which will take in a charm offensive in Scotland, where his personal popularity rating is through the floor.
However, speaking at the V&A Museum in Dundee on Saturday as she joined her party’s newly-elected MPs, Ms Sturgeon insisted it is unsustainable for the Tories to keep saying no to a fresh vote.
‘It was a watershed election on Thursday and it’s very clear that Scotland wants a different future to the one chosen by much of the rest of the UK,’ she said.
‘Scotland showed its opposition to Boris Johnson and the Tories, said no again to Brexit, and made very clear that we want the future of Scotland, whatever that turns out to be, to be decided by people who live here.
‘You can’t bludgeon a nation into accepting your view of the world when it is made very clear that it doesn’t have that view of the world.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon lashed out at the Prime Minister after she achieved her own election triumph north of the border
She spoke with the Prime Minister in a phone call on Friday following the election in which the Conservatives swept to a large Commons majority
The Scottish National Party now holds 48 of the 59 Scottish seats, up from 35, which Ms Sturgeon believes strengthens her case for a new referendum
‘It couldn’t really be any clearer from the results of this election that Scotland doesn’t want a Boris Johnson Government, it doesn’t want to leave the European Union, and it wants to be able to determine its own future, whatever that future turns out to be.’
Ms Sturgeon said the United Kingdom will only continue to exist by consent.
‘This idea that the Tories can just say no and sort of imprison Scotland in a union against its will, I just don’t think will hold,’ said the First Minister.
‘The union can only continue to exist by consent if the Scottish people want it to.
‘And you have to be prepared to allow the Scottish people to choose if you want to make the argument that it should be part of the union.
Ms Sturgeon said the United Kingdom will only continue to exist by consent
She embraced the party’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford as she arrived for a photocall with newly-elected SNP MPs in Dundee
‘So if Boris Johnson has confidence in the case for the union and the UK, and for Scotland staying part of that, he should have the guts to make that case and let people decide because he won’t get away with just saying no and trying to bludgeon the nation of Scotland into seeing the world as he does, which most of us don’t.’
Ms Sturgeon added: ‘There is no doubt that the prospect of a Boris Johnson government for the next five years is worrying for people.
‘It’s a grim reality and in my view, it makes that case for Scotland being able to choose something different all the more urgent and all the more important.’
Following a dismal night for the Labour Party in the election, Ms Sturgeon added: ‘I think Labour have got some deep soul searching to do before anybody knows the direction they’re going to take.
‘That’s certainly true in Scotland, but it’s been true in Scotland for a long time.
‘I don’t know where Labour in Scotland goes from here, but Labour UK-wide have got some big questions to answer about their own direction before I think people like me can begin to work out how we might potentially work with them or not in the future.’