Thread by @Telegraph

🔴 Exclusive: The Prime Minister will argue holding a referendum during the Covid-19 pandemic would be reckless | @benrileysmith
telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/…

The defiant message comes as Whitehall increasingly focuses on how to counter the prospect of 'Scexit' in the coming months and years

Ministers have agreed there should be no new version of Better Together, the pro-UK campaign in the 2014 referendum, instead relying on an existing web of Unionist bodies

A billion-pound spending drive is under way which will see the UK Government invest directly in Scottish transport and infrastructure, circumventing the SNP-run Scottish Government

Other eye-catching ideas are being pushed from inside the Cabinet, such as the House of Commons sitting in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland for a fortnight each September

Do you think the Commons sitting in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland for a fortnight each year is a good idea? 🇬🇧

Since last summer, opinion polls have consistently shown more Scots back independence than staying in the UK, though a drop in support in recent weeks has both options neck and neck

Seeing off the SNP’s calls for another referendum is one of the biggest challenges of the Johnson premiership

In 2014, Tory MPs were effectively told not to campaign in Scotland without permission from Better Together, given the fear of gaffes

“The way we'll save the Union is by showing Westminster can deliver for Scottish people and businesses,” one adviser to a cabinet minister said

Scots voted 55% to 45% to stay in the UK in 2014

Support for Scottish independence is at a new high since the 2014 referendum

The Cabinet Office and Scotland Office are next to each other, meaning a speedy chat over a fag is easily arranged. A well-placed source said: “It’s literally by the bike sheds”