PRIME Minister Boris Johnson has denied that he wants to reverse devolution, after claims made by his former aide Dominic Cummings.
The National exclusively revealed that former Vote Leave chief Cummings said that Johnson was an "unthinking unionist" who would reverse devolution if he could.
Now, the PM has been forced to deny the allegations under intense questioning from SNP MP Pete Wishart during an appearance at the Liaison Committee in Westminster this afternoon.
Johnson also took the opportunity to make a pop at the SNP government at Holyrood, claiming they "shuffle blame and responsibility on to central government".
READ MORE: Boris Johnson is an unthinking Unionist who wants to reverse devolution, Cummings says
He again repeated the line that the issue isn't with devolution, "but the party in power".
The revelations were made this afternoon while the PM was being scrutinised over Covid-19, COP-26 and the impact of Brexit during a committee hearing.
Wishart asked: "Your former senior advisor rather uncharitably said you were an unthinking unionist who thinks devolution was a disaster who would like to reverse it but won't dare try.
"That's pretty accurate isn't it, would you reverse devolution if you had the chance? What do you really feel about devolution?"
The PM said: "No, I was a massive beneficiary of devolution as I was just saying to Meg Hillier.
"It was the Labour government's decision in the late 90s to follow the John Smith package and to devolve. It enabled me to become Mayor of London, and I think it was a great thing.
"What you didn't find when I was Mayor of London, you didn't find me endlessly attacking central government and moaning about it. And you didn't find me trying to shuffle off blame and responsibility on to central government, I took responsibility.
"And if I may say I think the problem is not with devolution, the problem is with the party in power."
Probed further on whether he previously called devolution a "disaster" the PM again deflected.
He said: "I certainly think there are disastrous aspects of the Scottish Government and Scottish National Party's performance in delivering education, in fighting crime, in tackling the scourge of drugs. I think there have been lamentable failures, yes I do.
"Now the difficult thing for me, as Prime Minister of the UK, is how to, it's a difficult thing because I love the whole UK and I want it to succeed.
"It's very hard to mount the ramparts and say something is going wrong in Scotland, I don't want to do that, I want Scotland to be brilliantly governed and it should be.
"I just think the SNP is not delivering what it could."
It comes after The National revealed earlier this week how the Prime Minister’s former chief aide Dominic Cummings said that Johnson is an “unthinking Unionist” who wants to reverse devolution.
Asked what Johnson really says about the constitutional set-up behind the scenes on one of his Substack Q&As yesterday, Cummings told The National: “He's an unthinkign [sic] unionist. Thinks devolution/Scottish parliament was a disaster, wd like to reverse it but wont dare try...”
The SNP hit out and urged Johnson to recommit to the Scotland Act 2016 - which recognises the Scottish Parliament’s place and describes it as “permanent”.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson should reaffirm commitment to Scotland Act
Last year, it was widely reported that Johnson told a Zoom call of northern English Tory MPs that he considered devolution to be a “disaster”.
He later claimed he was not opposed to devolution itself, but the “way the SNP have handled devolution in Scotland”.
The SNP also said that Johnson is leading a power grab by stealth through the Internal Market Bill and Shared Prosperity Fund.
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