(Reuters) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the granting of greater powers of self-governance to the Scottish parliament a ‘disaster’ during a call with Conservative MPs, The Sun reported on Monday.
Johnson described Scottish devolution as former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair’s biggest mistake, the report https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13215312/boris-johnson-vows-to-get-footie-bailout-sorted added.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon took to Twitter in response to Johnson’s reported comments.
“Worth bookmarking these PM comments for the next time Tories say they’re not a threat to the powers of the Scottish Parliament – or, even more incredibly, that they support devolving more powers,” her tweet https://twitter.com/NicolaSturgeon/status/1328437520313487363 said.
The only way to protect and strengthen the Scottish Parliament is with independence, she added.
Under UK’s delicate constitutional balance, semi-autonomous parliaments and governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland known as the devolved administrations have powers over areas like education, health, policing and justice.
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross tweeted, saying devolution is not a disaster.
“Devolution has not been a disaster. The SNP’s non-stop obsession with another referendum – above jobs, schools and everything else – has been a disaster,” his tweet https://twitter.com/Douglas4Moray/status/1328438555429974018 said.
During Johnson’s call with 60 Conservative MPs, he also promised to pump billions more into infrastructure, telling they will get the largest financial commitment to infrastructure in 70 years, the report said.
(Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
