British Prime Minister Theresa May has warned the pro-independence Scottish government that "politics is not a game".
May, during her address at the Scottish Conservative Party conference in Glasgow on Friday, accused Nicola Sturgeon's Scottish National Party (SNP) government of being "obsessed" with pushing for the independence of the country.
She said Sturgeon was neglecting the region's primary needs in favour of the nation's secession, reported Efe news.
May said nationalists play "politics as if it is a game", at a time when she was committed to maintaining the unity of Britain ahead of its exit from the European Union.
She said her first visit outside of England after she took office in July last year was to Scotland, because the UK's unity was a priority for her.
May said that the British government could negotiate a deal with Brussels that benefited the whole country, including Scotland, whose electorate widely voted for Britain to remain in the EU in last June's referendum.
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May said there was no appetite for a second Scottish independence referendum and that the case was dismissed in September 2014, when 55 per cent of Scots voted to stay in Britain.
Sturgeon has insisted that a second referendum was an option in the light of the change of circumstances.
The British Prime Minister was critical of the SNP and said services such as education and health had got worse under its leadership.
She said the SNP was "a party resolutely focused on just one thing: independence".
In response to May's comments, Sturgeon said the Tory government did not have a mandate in Scotland nor a democratic basis to take it out of the EU and the single market.
--IANS
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