Matt Hancock infuriates SNP by using Covid press conference to take dig at independence referendum

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Matt Hancock last night infuriated SNP leaders by using his Covid press conference to take a dig at Nicola Sturgeon‘s threat of a rogue referendum.

Speaking at Monday’s Downing Street briefing, the Health Secretary revealed Scotland’s ambulance service had been forced to call for emergency support over the weekend.

He said other UK nations had ‘stepped forward’ to help the Scottish Ambulance Service – which he said proved the Union was ‘stronger together’.

The dig came as Ms Sturgeon vowed to hold an advisory referendum on independence if her Scottish National party wins a majority in May’s Holyrood elections.

The SNP leader warned she would carry out the vote, with or without backing from Westminster. 

But less than 24 hours after Ms Sturgeon’s referendum promise, Mr Hancock took his chance to push the power of the Union.

He also stressed the importance of collaboration between the nations in the fight against Covid-19 during the health briefing.

He told the press conference in Downing Street that the Scottish Ambulance Service put out an appeal for extra help over the weekend and other nations ‘stepped forward’.

Mr Hancock said: ‘Our health systems across the UK routinely work closely together offering support when it’s needed, and from vaccines to ambulance services we are stronger together.

‘And the UK is stronger together in the fight against this pandemic.’

However the Scottish Government’s Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham accused Mr Hancock of using the briefing to make ‘overtly political statements about the Union’.

She argued that SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon would face ‘fury’ if she used her briefings to do the same.  

In a tweet, she said: At Westminster Covid briefing just there, Matt Hancock chose to make overtly political statements about the union. Cannot imagine the fury if Nicola Sturgeon chose to do the same thing.’

Meanwhile, SNP chiefs accused Mr Hancock of using the briefing to make an ‘overtly political statement’. 

An SNP spokesman said: ‘Covid briefings should be for important public health information only and overtly political statements very much risk diluting the strength of these crucial health messages.

‘Nicola Sturgeon strenuously avoids making political points at her daily coronavirus briefings – but the fact the Tories feel the need to try and use this crisis to try and make constitutional arguments shows how deeply rattled they are by the opinion polls, which say independence is clearly becoming the settled will of the people of Scotland.’  

It comes as the Tory leader in Scotland called for Labour and other parties to join him in a boycott of any attempt by Ms Sturgeon to call a wildcat referendum on independence.

Douglas Ross said his party would not take part in any vote not sanctioned by Westminster as the Scottish National Party threatened to hold one whether it was given permission or not.

And he called for his political opponents to join him in refusing to lend legitimacy to the separatist project to break up the United Kingdom.

Under UK law the prime minister has to give permission for a referendum, but Boris Johnson has constantly refused to agree to SNP demands for a rerun of the 2014 vote.

Ahead of an expected visit to Scotland this week by the Prime Minister, Mr Ross told an online event for a think tank that if the 2014 vote had been the ‘gold standard of referendums’ then ‘no-one who believes in democracy should enter into this wildcat referendum that would have no actual bearing in terms of the outcome, would not be enforceable’.

He added: ‘It is moving all the focus away from what Scottish politicians should be concentrating on right now: protecting jobs, improving the economy, supporting communities right across the country, making sure our education system is fit for our young people.

‘That is where the focus should be, not on wildcat referendums, which I would absolutely boycott because they would be an absolute waste of precious time and resources when our focus should be on defeating Covid-19, rolling out the vaccine and concentrating on our economic recovery.’

Mr Johnson is expected to head north this week, according to the Sun. He named himself ‘minister for the Union’ when he entered Downing Street 18 months ago, but visiting Scotland is a high-risk strategy, as opinion polls show he is hugely unpopular north of the border.

A survey by Panelbase for the Times at the weekend found that he has a -44 rating for his handling of the pandemic among voters in Scotland, compared to Ms Sturgeon’s +36.

Mr Johnson yesterday slapped down Nicola Sturgeon’s demands for a new vote, saying she should be totally focused on fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

Ms Sturgeon is vowing that a referendum will be held if there is a pro-independence majority at Holyrood after May’s elections – where her party is on track to get a landslide.

Jubilant SNP MPs said they wanted to ‘focus on undermining the union’, even though all sides made clear the 2014 vote would settle the issue ‘for a generation’. 

The separatists lost that contest by 55 per cent to 45 per cent, but polls have been consistently showing that a majority north of the border would now vote to break away. 

Under the blueprint, Ms Sturgeon would demand that Mr Johnson agree to a ‘Section 30’ order that paves the way to a second independence referendum. 

The PM has pledged to refuse such a request. But for the first time, the SNP has said it will then hold a referendum anyway, forcing Mr Johnson to make it legal or take the Scottish Government to court to stop it.  

UK Government sources said it would be more likely to ignore a referendum, although that would lead to huge political fallout.