MICHAEL Gove told Nicola Sturgeon "not never but not now" in her bid for Scottish independence – but left the door open for a future referendum.
After the SNP fell just short of majority in the Scottish Parliament elections, the Cabinet bigwig swerved questions on whether the Government would use the courts to block her vowed attempt to hold another vote on breaking up the UK.
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But notably he stopped short of outright rejection of another vote in a significant step back – instead he said now was not the time because of Covid.
He told ITV Scotland it was “not never, but not now" for a second vote.
The SNP fell one seat short of an overall majority during the Super Thursday elections, securing 64 seats in Holyrood.
Eight seats for the Greens, also pro-independence, paves the way for Scotland to once more hold a vote for independence from Great Britain.
But many fear the UK government would not give approval to hold a referendum, with Ms Sturgeon making her feelings clear on what that could mean.
She slammed such a scenario as "no longer a union based on consent", continuing to the BBC: "In this election they have voted overwhelmingly for the SNP and we stood on a manifesto commitment to firstly… continue to steer the country through the Covid pandemic.
"But after the crisis to give the people of Scotland the opportunity to choose our own future in a referendum.
“The fact that we are sitting here having a debate about whether or not that outcome is going to be respected says a lot about the lack of respect for Scottish democracy that this UK government has demonstrated for quite some time now.”
But Mr Gove said the Scottish First Minister's failure to recapture the dizzy heights of 2011, when her predecessor and now rival Alex Salmond won a healthy 69-seat majority in Edinburgh, indicated there was not a fervour among the public for another independence poll.
'NOT NOW'
He told the BBC: "It is not the case now – as we see – that the people of Scotland are agitating for a referendum."
And he insisted that "it's not an issue for the moment” and the SNP’s focus on securing a second referendum was “a slightly skewed set of priorities to imagine that that is the most important issue”.
Instead he urged the SNP leader to "concentrate on recovery" from the coronavirus pandemic, following the Prime Minister's invitation for her and other devolved leaders to contribute to economic revival plans.
Today, Ms Sturgeon said she would be “delighted” to attend Boris Johnson's Covid summit, but warned she would push on with plans for another vote when the crisis has passed.
With help from the Greens, there are enough separatist votes to get a referendum proposal through the Scottish Parliament, but it cannot go ahead legitimately without approval from Westminster.
If the SNP government attempted to go ahead with the vote regardless, it would likely head to the Supreme Court to be rendered illegal.
But Sturgeon hit back telling Andrew Marr, that any legal challenge to a referendum from the UK Government would be "such a grave and serious and undemocratic situation that I don't believe, on either side, anybody wants it to get to that point".
Mr Gove repeatedly avoided saying that Westminster ministers could intervene via the Supreme Court to block legislation from the Scottish Parliament that attempts to engineer a second independence referendum, saying: "We're not going near there."
But previously senior Tories have vowed to simply say no to another vote at any time.
Ms Sturgeon, who said she "wouldn't rule out" putting legislation for a referendum before MSPs early next year, claimed a battle in the courts would be "absurd and completely outrageous".
She told the BBC: "In this election they have voted overwhelmingly for the SNP and we stood on a manifesto commitment to firstly… continue to steer the country through the Covid pandemic.
"But after the crisis to give the people of Scotland the opportunity to choose our own future in a referendum.
"The fact that we are sitting here having a debate about whether or not that outcome is going to be respected says a lot about the lack of respect for Scottish democracy that this UK Government has demonstrated for quite some time now."
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