JACOB Rees-Mogg has defended his government’s decision to funnel emergency Covid cash towards efforts to stop Scottish independence.
The Commons leader claimed the move by Michael Gove’s Cabinet Office, during the height of the pandemic, was “completely proper and justifiable”.
Gove is facing demands for a public inquiry after it was revealed he ordered officials to use part of a £560,000 emergency pandemic fund to conduct research on "attitudes to the UK Union". The work was carried out using a contract given to Public First, a firm run by two of his associates.
Boris Johnson denied any knowledge of the polling at Prime Minister’s Questions.
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In the Commons today, SNP MP Anum Qaisar-Javed said: "Yesterday in the news we found out that this Government used taxpayers' money – that should have been used on Covid recovery – on polling for independence."
She went on to raise concerns about "secret" polling before inviting Rees-Mogg and other Tory MPs to visit her constituency as they are "fantastic advocates for Scottish independence".
The Tory minister accepted the invitation before replying: “The work undertaken on attitudes to the Union was a reasonable thing to poll for, it’s really important when you’re developing a communication strategy to work out how we will learn most effectively.
“There was a great deal of work to be done to communicate the messages about staying at home, about working from home, about wearing face masks and so on and so forth.
“I think this was completely proper and justifiable.
“I imagine that other governments in similar circumstances would have done much the same.”
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Gove had already been found to have acted unlawfully in awarding the £560,000 emergency contract to Public First. The market research company is owned by James Frayne and Rachel Wolf, who both formerly worked for the Tory minister and are also associates of Dominic Cummings.
The SNP have led demands for a public inquiry.
Deputy Westminster leader Kirsten Oswald said: "This is a gross misuse of public money and emergency COVID contracts, which existed to tackle the pandemic. There must be an inquiry and those responsible must be held to account.”
Downing Street said "every responsible government" would conduct research to understand the public's views on issues around the pandemic.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman told reporters: "Clearly it's important to know what all parts of the union think about specific issues so we can tailor approaches should they be necessary.
"We recognise that health is a devolved matter but there are elements where there is a UK Government response required."
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