Boris Johnson has attacked the SNP’s “crackpot plan” for independence and claimed the party had been “diabolical” for Scotland.
The prime minister, in a heated Commons exchange with SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, said he would “look forward to contesting SNP policy at the barricades” in the forthcoming election.
Mr Blackford responded by saying the Tory leader would “be welcome” in Scotland because “each time he comes, he drives up SNP support”.
He added: “This coming election will be one of the most important in Scotland’s history. Only a vote for the SNP can secure the escape route for Scotland away from this Brexit mess.”
Mr Johnson, speaking at prime minister’s questions, said: “Why does he go on about Scottish independence, because he wants to conceal what the SNP government is actually doing in Scotland.
“They are diabolical for the Scottish economy, they have the highest taxes in the UK, they’re not running either health or education well, that is why they are so monomaniacal about smashing the Union.”
He added: “They would throw everything away with their crackpot plan for borders at Berwick and creating a new Scottish currency or joining the euro and, worse still, going into the European Union and handing back control of Scotland’s fisheries — Scotland’s spectacular marine wealth.
“Just at the moment that they have been won back by this country, they would hand back control of those fisheries to Brussels.”
