A leaked document has revealed that the Tory government is in full panic mode over Scottish independence as it becomes ever more desperate in its doomed attempt to deny people in Scotland the right to choose their own future.

A memo seen by Bloomberg News has revealed that a consultancy firm close to the Tory party has advised UK government figures – including Michael Gove – on tactics to delay or avoid a referendum and how to placate rising support for Scottish independence.

Poll after poll has shown independence is now backed by a majority of Scots – with a recent Ipsos/Mori poll conducted for STV, revealing that of those expressing a view 58% of people would vote Yes in an independence referendum.

Commenting, the SNP’s Deputy Westminster leader Kirsten Oswald MP said:

“This leaked memo reveals that the Tories are in panic mode because people in Scotland know Boris Johnson’s government can’t be trusted to act in Scotland’s interests.

“The Westminster government has launched an all-out power grab on the Scottish Parliament through its post-Brexit Internal Market Bill.

“And Scotland faces the devastating prospect for jobs of being dragged out of the EU against our will in the middle of a global pandemic and deep recession by a Boris Johnson government we didn’t vote for, with either a bad deal or no deal outcome.

“The whole Westminster system is broken and it is time decisions about Scotland were taken by the people who live here.

“The Tory attempt to deny the right of the people of Scotland to decide their own future is completely unsustainable and undemocratic.

“Scotland’s future should be in Scotland’s hands – not Boris Johnson’s.”