North MP Jamie Stone slams the Prime Minister for claiming that devolution has been a 'disaster' for Scotland saying he is not the man to the keep the UK together
North MP Jamie Stone has issued a stern rebuke to Prime Minister Boris Johnson following claims the UK leader said devolution was a “disaster.”
Mr Stone suggested the outburst was prompted by Mr Johnson's own powers being limited by the constitutional settlement and flatly refuted that devolution has been bad for Scotland.
The comments were apparently made during an online meeting with dozens of Conservative MPs from northern England.
Mr Johnson also apparently said that he labelled the move as “Tony Blair’s biggest mistake.”
The veteran Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross hotly disputed that version of events as a founding member of the Scottish Constitutional Convention and a signatory of the 1989 Claim of Right, which declared sovereignty of the Scottish people during the campaign for a Scottish parliament.
He said: “Devolution has not been a disaster. Perhaps it is the reduction in his own powers that Mr Johnson finds so disastrous?
“The Prime Minister’s comments say it all: he is not the man to keep the UK together.”
Speaking on the BBC, MP Robert Jenrick who is also the communities secretary defended the PM saying his criticism was directed at the rise of the SNP.
"What he does feel strongly, and I would agree, is that devolution in Scotland has facilitated the rise of separatism and nationalism in the form of the SNP, and that that's trying to break apart the United Kingdom," Mr Jenrick said.
"Anybody, like the prime minister, who loves the UK wants to keep it together thinks that that's a very, very dangerous and disappointing outcome that we need to battle against."
