RISHI Sunak will “circumvent Holyrood” to implement key policies, Scottish Tory MP Andrew Bowie has claimed.
Writing for The Times, Bowie stated that this was as the Tory party “cannot trust the SNP to act in the best interests of the Scottish people”, claiming that Whitehall has a “devolve and forget” mentality which leads to “easy, lazy governing that says Scotland? Pass it to Holyrood”.
Elsewhere, Bowie claimed that Sunak played a “key role” in levelling-up funds being handed to councils, bypassing the Scottish Parliament, and that he “ensured that the SNP agreed to freeports coming to Scotland”.
The bypassing of the Scottish Parliament is a controversial suggestion, with Finance Secretary Kate Forbes previously having issued a warning to Westminster that levelling-up proposals should not be used to undermine Scottish devolution, as ministers get no say in how the funding is spent.
In a letter, Forbes said: “We have already made clear our view that while we welcome additional funding for Scotland, it is unacceptable for the UK Government to decide how money should be spent in areas of devolved responsibility, especially without any meaningful consultation or engagement.”
Bowie also took a jab at other Tory leadership candidates by stating that Sunak “went beyond easy platitudinous phrases that make us feel good about ourselves and our past” in discussions of the Union.
Bowie also claimed that Sunak was a “Unionist to his core”. The former chancellor has faced allegations that he does not care whether the Union is maintained or not.
Sunak was forced to take an overtly Unionist stance after a quote attributed to a fellow Conservative was made public. It said: “I remember discussing the future of the Union with Rishi and he argued that England should break away. He was advocating the end of the UK because it doesn’t make financial sense to him."
The National exclusively revealed earlier this week that Rishi Sunak stated in 2017 that the timing of indyref2 should be pushed back until Brexit has passed, adding that a “good deal” would strengthen the Union's case.
Following our report, Sunak's campaign team said he opposed indyref2.
