UK Prime Minister to Visit Scotland Amid Fresh Bid for Independence, Reports Say

LONDON (Sputnik) – UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will travel to Scotland this week to try to save the United Kingdom from disintegrating after Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon made a fresh bid for independence and threatened to hold a referendum without the central government's permission, the Sun newspaper reported on Monday.

Johnson is expected to use the trip to make a plea for Scots to reject narrow separatism, the tabloid’s online edition said.

Sturgeon said on Sunday that if the Scottish National Party wins the local elections scheduled for May, she will push for another independence referendum.

Johnson has said, however, that the 2014 referendum, when Scotland voted against independence by 55 percent to 45 percent, was “once-in-a-generation vote,” so London will not grant permission for another.

The Scottish leader argues that Brexit changed the whole scenario two years later because Scotland was forced to leave the European Union although a large majority of the Scottish voters had opted for remaining within the bloc.