UK PM Boris Johnson has faced
staunch retort from Scottish independence campaigners in response to his
comment about the creation of the devolved parliament in Edinburgh being a ‘disaster’, AFP reported.

Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon, the First
Minister in the devolved parliament, tweeted out late Monday, saying it was “worth
bookmarking these PM comments for the next time Tories say they’re not a threat
to the powers of the Scottish parliament.

“The only way to protect and strengthen @ScotParl is with
independence,” she added.

Johnson told the MPs on Monday that “devolution has been
a disaster north of the border” and that it was former leader “Tony Blair’s biggest
mistake”, said AFP quoting the Sun.

The PM’s office added that Johnson supported devolution, but
not at the cost of “separatists and nationalists” breaking up the UK.

Douglas Ross, Scottish Conservatives leader, replied that “devolution
has not been a disaster” and that “the SNP’s non-stop obsession with another referendum
– above jobs, schools and everything else – has been a disaster.”

Scotland was promised a devolution before the election by
the Labour Party in 1997, which, when carried out later on in the same year,
led to the establishment of the Scottish parliament.

In the 2014 referendum Scotland rejected independence, but
since Brexit took place in 2016, the demand for another referendum has been on
the rise north of the border.