Johnson rules out Indyref2 in early New Year offensive against Scottish Nationalists

Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has chosen to go on the offensive against Scottish nationalists as his first major political activity of the New Year.

In an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr, the PM reaffirmed his oft-stated position that a Scottish independence referendum should be a “once-in-a-generation” event.

“Referendums in my experience, direct experience, in this country are not particularly jolly events”, Johnson told the Andrew Marr Show on Sunday (January 03).

“They don’t have a notably unifying force in the national mood, they should be only once-in-a-generation”, the PM added.   

The BBC’s veteran interviewer, Marr, pressed the PM on the issue by drawing a comparison between the Brexit referendum in 2016 and the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) quest for a second vote on Scottish independence (popularly referred to as Indyref2).

But Johnson – who has adopted an aggressive posture against Scottish nationalism since becoming PM in July 2019 – was quick off the mark by pointing out the long gap in the two referenda that began and ended the UK’s membership of the European Union (EU).

"The difference is we had a referendum in 1975 [to join the European Common Market] and we then had another one in 2016 [to exit the European Union] … That seems to be about the right sort of gap”, the PM quipped.

Therefore, by Johnson’s calculation – in view of the 41-year gap in the European-related referenda – the next time Scottish people can vote for independence would be 2055.

In the September 2014 Scottish independence referendum, 55.3 percent of voters opted against independence.   

Reacting to the PM’s incendiary remarks, Keith Brown, who is the depute leader of the SNP, retorted: “It may be a new year but it's the same old incoherent bluster from Boris Johnson. The prime minister pretends otherwise but he knows he can't keep on denying democracy”.

Brown – who manages the day-to-day affairs of the SNP on behalf of Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon – added: “The people who will decide our future are the people of Scotland, not Boris Johnson and the Westminster Tories".

Jonson’s decision to escalate the political feud with Scottish nationalists comes against the backdrop of seventeen consecutive opinion polls demonstrating a majority in favor of Scottish independence.

The latest poll in October 2020 indicated that 58 percent of Scottish people would vote YES (to independence) in a fresh referendum.  

Opinion poll indicates significant surge in support for Scottish independence

The latest opinion survey on Scottish independence indicates the biggest lead in a poll ever recorded for the pro-independence side.

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