A FORMER Scottish Conservative communications chief has said the UK Government’s strategy of continually refusing a second referendum will ultimately lead to independence.

Andy Maciver, now a political commentator and director of the public relations firm Message Matters, was responding to advice given by George Osborne to Boris Johnson on what to do regarding growing support for Scottish independence.

The former Chancellor wrote in a column in the Evening Standard that arguments made for the Union ahead of the 2014 referendum, such as the pooling and sharing of resources, could not longer be made in post-Brexit Britain as they had been undermined by the UK’s decision to leave the EU.

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He concluded: “This Brexiteer premier can’t say any of this. So what’s the second plan? Simple. Refuse to hold a referendum. It’s the only sure way you won’t lose one. Yes, the SNP will be in full cry – but so what? Domestic opposition has already evaporated, with the Labour leader there resigning last week.”

Maciver responded: “The ‘just say no’ strategy would probably avoid the break-up of the UK in the short-term, but it would simultaneously guarantee it in the medium term. It’s like volunteering to go on death row because you’re too scared you might lose the trial.”

Maciver has previously criticised UK Tories’ attitude to Scotland which he believes has been helped increase support for independence.

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In November last year he said the “Union is dead” after Johnson’s told MPs devolution had been a disaster.

Maciver added he was speechless after the Prime Minister’s comments – made in a Zoom call last night – suggested they showed the Westminster Conservatives didn’t understand “what’s going on”.

Johnson also told 60 Tory MPs that he believed devolution was former Labour prime minister Tony Blair’s “biggest mistake”.

“If it’s an accurate read-out, then it’s an indication that they really don’t understand what’s going on. If this is government policy, and remains so, then the Union is dead. Scotland first.

"Then Northern Ireland. Maybe even Wales. And a chasm between north and south in England,” wrote Maciver on Twitter.

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He added: “Sometimes even after all these years I’m speechless. If the SNP could write the UK Government strategy, it would look exactly like this. Exactly.”

Johnson’s intervention came just days after London-based journalists were briefed that the PM wanted to reset his position on the Union and offer and strike a more positive relationship with the Scottish Government.

It provoked fury across the political spectrum in Scotland with Scottish Tories keen to distance themselves from the PM’s comments and stress that devolution had been good for the country.

Some 19 successive polls have recorded majority support for independence with a number showing record 58% backing.

Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP are to fight the Scottish Parliament's elections, scheduled to take place in May, on the right to hold a second referendum on independence. 

Polls point to the SNP winning a record fourth term in government and a substantial majority in Holyrood.