BORIS Johnson has hit out at Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP over their plans for a second Scottish independence referendum, saying people wanted to see a focus on beating the pandemic, as he insisted the benefits of “our wonderful Union” were there for all to see.

At the weekend, the Nationalists announced that if they won the May Holyrood poll, they would seek to hold Indyref2 once the pandemic was over and challenge the UK Government to contest their right to do so in the court.

Pressed on the issue, the Prime Minister said: “The whole of the UK is going through a pandemic. What people want to see is everybody focusing on beating that pandemic, which we are, rolling out the vaccine and getting ready to bounce back from that pandemic and have the strongest possible recovery; that’s the priority for the whole of the United Kingdom.

“People also can see everywhere in the UK the visible benefits of our wonderful Union; a vaccine programme that has been rolled out by a National Health Service, a vaccine that was developed in labs in Oxford and is being administered by the British Army. So, the strengths and advantages of the Union speak for themselves,” he told Sky News.

Earlier, Michael Russell, the Scottish Government’s Constitutional Secretary, warned the UK Government that taking the administration in Edinburgh to court over its Indyref2 plan would not be a “good look”.

He told the BBC: “We’re saying to the world: if the people of Scotland vote for something, they should get it; that’s unremarkable. It’s such a bad look for any government to say: ‘Even if the people of Scotland vote for something, we’ll take them to court to stop them.’

“[It’s] not just the Government; that would essentially be taking the whole people of Scotland who voted for it to court.”

Mr Russell admitted he did not think London would take legal action, noting: “I think sense prevails. But it is quite fair that we say we intend to deliver that, so we’ll carry on with our referendum and if the UK Government wish to challenge that in court, they will have to challenge it and we will defend it.”

The SNP President would not be drawn on what would happen if the UK Supreme Court ruled the Scottish Government’s referendum was unlawful.

He argued post-pandemic independence for Scotland would allow it to better rebuild after the economic toll taken by Covid-19.

“The connection with the pandemic is to make sure that Scotland rebuilds in the way it needs to rebuild for its future,” he explained.

“That is what we need to do, focused on Scotland’s needs and Scotland’s priorities, not be treated in the way we have been treated over the last many years and particularly during Brexit; that is[being] ignored.”

Despite assurances from Mr Russell and the SNP that another referendum would not be held during the pandemic, Gordon Brown said there should be a period of introspection immediately following the coronavirus crisis.

The former Labour PM explained: “There needs to be a time to heal and there needs to be a time to reflect and learn the lessons; what went wrong during this pandemic, what went wrong with the economic recovery plan, why are people so fed up with what actually happened, can we do something better to govern the United Kingdom in a more sensitive and more efficient way.”

Mr Brown’s comments came after he wrote in the Daily Telegraph that the UK risked becoming a “failed state” if the Union were not reformed.

He urged Mr Johnson to consider ideas like replacing the House of Lords with a “senate of the regions” and to review the way the UK was governed.

The Conservative administration promised at the 2019 General Election to set up a constitution commission to look at various aspects about how the country was run. However, the fight against the pandemic has put this back.

But it is believed the PM is planning a “big push” on the Union in the coming weeks ahead of the Holyrood poll, which could not only include more spending announcements and a keynote speech on the Union but also the publication of the much-delayed Dunlop Review on strengthening it and the establishment of the constitution commission.