Speaking to Express.co.uk, the Conservative MSP lashed out against Nicola Sturgeon’s cabinet as she argued the SNP is yet to provide coherent answers on its independence agenda. Ms Ballantyne hit out at Scottish Finance Secretary Kate Forbes as she claimed the SNP frontbencher’s approach to politics is “hypocritical” whilst dismantling the idea an independent Scotland could survive on its own.
She said: “I certainly don’t want to see a situation where we risk the support that we can give people. I mean, look at furlough, you know, I mean, that’s another huge example.
“And I’m sorry but Kate Forbes is being quite disingenuous or hugely naive if she thinks Scotland could have delivered that on its own.
“It’s just not there.
“And again, the hypocrisy of one minute saying that she could do it herself in the next minute crying, I need more money, I’ve got a hole in my budget. It just doesn’t work.
“And actually, let’s be honest, if they had all the answers and they knew how it could be done and they could prove it, they would have done so by now.
“Their own report that they released last year clearly showed that they couldn’t.
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“So, you know, I’ve always said the nationalists would be the first to tell you if they had the answer.
“They’re not withholding it, they just don’t have the answer.”
Last month, Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Scotland in an attempt to scupper calls for a second independence referendum.
The Prime Minister said the coronavirus pandemic had demonstrated how England and Scotland can work together.
However, a recent YouGov poll has shown the majority of Scotland now want independence from the UK, with 53 percent of people saying ‘Yes’ to independence to 47 percent of people saying ‘No’.
It is the largest lead for Scottish independence ever recorded in a YouGov poll. It involved 1,142 Scottish adults over the age of 16.
YouGov said: “To say our latest Scotland poll is bad news for unionists would be an understatement.
“The SNP still look set for a landslide victory in next May’s Scottish Parliament elections, an election they will go into pledging to hold a second independence referendum.”
