PENNY Mordaunt has become the fourth Tory leadership hopeful to say they wouldn’t allow a Scottish independence referendum to be held.
On the Sunday broadcast media round, Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt said that they would not grant a Section 30 order to allow a vote to go ahead if they were given the keys to Number 10.
Meanwhile, Tom Tugendhat failed to say if he would grant a Section 30 order but added that “you can’t keep asking the same question and hoping for a different answer”.
The SNP said that the views of the contenders are irrelevant as “no Trump-like efforts” from the Tories can “deny democratic reality”.
Mordaunt, the MP for Portsmouth North who is hotly tipped to be the top contentender for Prime Minister but is up against at least 10 rivals, also ruled out a second vote if she were to take over from Boris Johnson.
Speaking to the Scottish Daily Mail, Mordaunt said: “I won't play Nicola Sturgeon's games by talking about indyref2.
“Another divisive referendum is the wrong priority. It's the last thing Scotland needs.
“We cannot allow the SNP to distract and divide us all over again. Now is the time to unite across our United Kingdom and focus on tackling the cost of living crisis, boosting economic growth, creating jobs and supporting businesses.”
Mordaunt is reportedly the favourite amongst Scottish Tories to be the next party leader.
John Lamont, Tory MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, told Times Radio last week that Mordaunt is a "very effective communicator" and "very strong on the Union".
On Sunday, we told how both Javid and Hunt ruled out indyref2 taking place in the near future if they were put in charge.
Hunt said, “not in the next 10 years”, Javid said “not forever, but not at least for a decade”, while Tugendhat refused to be drawn into “hypotheticals” on the BBC’s Sunday Show.
SNP MP Stewart Hosie said: "The Scottish Government has a cast-iron democratic mandate, given to them by the people, to hold an independence referendum – and no Trump-like efforts from any politician will deny that democratic reality.
“The Westminster system is broken beyond repair. Only independence can allow Scotland to escape the damage of Westminster control and build a fairer, greener and prosperous future.”
It comes just after Mordaunt was forced to hastily re-edit her launch video to remove several identifiable figures, including a famous athlete.
Our leadership has to change. It needs to become a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship. https://t.co/NlpxAb9Dp4#pm4pm pic.twitter.com/hhfFXD6KCs
— Penny Mordaunt (@PennyMordaunt) July 10, 2022
The original campaign clip featured two seconds of footage showing Jonnie Peacock competing at the London 2012 Paralympics, but Peacock replied under the video requesting to be removed, adding “anything but blue please”.
Just over five hours later the amended video was reposted on Twitter.
Mordaunt becomes the fourth out of the current 11 contenders for PM to make her views about independence known.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss became the latest to enter the race, but the shortlist will be slimmed down in the coming days after the executive for the backbench 1922 committee is elected on Monday afternoon.
The group will then set the rules and procedures for the leadership race, set a timetable and are due to make an announcement at 7pm.
