BORIS Johnson has insisted that Scots don't want a new vote on independence, despite twenty polls in a row putting Yes in the lead.

The Prime Minister also claimed that none of the questions "fundamental to statehood have been asked or answered" by those calling for a second referendum.

Including, he said, over what would happen to the Queen.

 "To say you want a referendum is a bit like saying you don't mind what you eat, provided you eat it with a spoon,” he told reporters during a briefing on his whistlestop tour of Glasgow and Edinburgh.  

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The Tory leader also promised he’d be up to help Douglas Ross campaign in May’s election, telling reporters wild horses wouldn’t keep him away - that's despite poll after poll showing he is a liability for his party north of the border.

Asked about a future vote, Johnson said: “My strong feeling is that the whole country needs to work together. I want to work together with the devolved administration to get through the pandemic and to bounce back strongly. The other side, I think that's the focus that people have, I think that talking about another referendum is really not the priority of people”.

He added: “There was an independence referendum in 2014, which was clearly advertised by leading members of the SNP, I think, possibly, including the current first minister, as a once in a generation event. I think we should stick to that. 

“I don't think that the people of Scotland or anywhere else are focusing on constitutional wrangling or necessarily want constitutional wrangling to displace our joint efforts, our energies which should be focused on beating Covid beating the pandemic and bouncing back strongly together.”

“What's it intended to deliver this referendum?” he asked.  “What happens to the pound?  What happens to the foreign service? What happens to the army? What happens to the Queen? What happens to our security services? 

“None of these questions, fundamental to statehood, have been asked, or answered. To say you want a referendum is a bit like saying you don't mind what you eat, provided you eat it with a spoon. 

“What's it all about?” he added. “ We had one of these in, in, in 2014. And I think that we were told it was a once in a generation event, let's take them at their word are all those on both sides of the argument, who said that, and let's concentrate on what I think people in this country want, which is to work together, defeat Covid and bounce back better together, build back better together. 

Ahead of the 2014 referendum, the Scottish Government produced a 670-page white paper on independence, which attempted to answer some of those fundamental questions. It said the Queen would remain head of state, and a defence force would be set up using existing personnel and assets it said would be "inherited".

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The Prime Minister said it pained him to criticise the SNP government, but, he added, they had “not been notably successful in delivering good results on on education, on tackling drugs and in many other ways and I think that it is a mark of their general diversionary tactics that they continue to talk about a referendum, rather than about domestic political concerns, which I think are the crucial thing.”

He praised Ross, saying the new Tory chief was “doing a terrific job”. 

“As for campaigning, you know wild horses won't keep me away I'll be campaigning across the whole of the country.”

He promised to be back in Scotland before too long.