Scotland needs to "heal" the devastation wrought by coronavirus before another independence referendum is staged, Gordon Brown has said after the SNP's Westminster leader said it must be held in 2021. The former Prime Minister argued this was "not the right time at all" as Scotland is in the middle of a pandemic and a deep recession, which could have a long-lasting economic impact. Amid intense controversy over whether Boris Johnson will allow Nicola Sturgeon to have another vote, Mr Brown argued the real question was whether one "should" happen at the current time. His intervention came after Ian Blackford, the SNP’s Westminster leader, said his party “must” plan for a second independence referendum in 2021. Mr Blackford predicted another separation vote would happen next year, despite Boris Johnson's refusal to hand over the necessary powers, and apologised to nationalists for it not happening in 2020. But Douglas Ross, the Scottish Tory leader, said it "beggars belief" that the SNP Commons leader was arguing that "as lives and livelihoods continue to be lost, Scotland needs yet more division, chaos and uncertainty."
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