Rishi Sunak insisted the people of Scotland wanted ministers to focus on the “most pressing” issues as he was warned that denying another referendum would only push up support for independence.
The Prime Minister was challenged by the SNP’s Pete Wishart about the legislation needed to allow a second referendum following the Supreme Court’s ruling on the issue in November.
The Supreme Court ruled the Scottish Parliament cannot legislate for another independence vote without express consent from Westminster.
At the Commons Liaison Committee, Mr Sunak said: “My belief is that the Scottish people would like their governments – both the Scottish Government and the UK Government – to focus on the issues that are most pressing at the moment, given the scale of the challenges that we face.
“I have been clear that I want to do that in a constructive manner. I want to work in partnership with the Scottish Government where we can and I think we can make a difference to people’s lives.”
He told Mr Sunak: “At some point you will have to sit down and deal with that. Why don’t you just deal with that just now?
“Why don’t you bring forward the necessary change in legislation so we could do this, because the other option, surely, is support for independence is going to go up and at some point, you’re gonna have to address this.”
The Prime Minister told him: “What I’m focused on is actually making a difference to the lives of people in Scotland.
“The challenges they face, first and foremost, are with the cost of living and the impact that’s having. I want to do everything I can to try and alleviate some of those burdens, and provide opportunity and jobs for them.”
