Jamie Hepburn, the SNPs “shameless and unjustifiable” IndyRef minister, has announced that he will be publishing another Scottish Government paper arguing the case for independence in “the coming weeks”.
After facing criticism for his costly role in light of depleting chances of another independence vote, he has been told his upcoming paper reveals how “out of touch this SNP government is”.
Mr Hepburn was recently forced to defend his £98k a year salary, stating “Im not going anywhere,” when it became apparent he had yet to make any contribution at Holyrood since he was handed the plum role at the end of March.
READ MORE: Brazen £98k Scexit minister claims ‘he’s not going anywhere’ despite being missing in action at Holyrood
The Cumbernauld and Kilsyth MSP has said he will be leading the Building a New Scotland series under Humza Yousaf. Three of the papers have already been made public by Nicola Sturgeon last year.
Mr Hepburn said he could not confirm the subject matter it will cover as that will have to be cleared by Parliament first but after speaking to the Holyrood Weekly podcast for pro-Scexit newspaper The National, it appears the fourth paper is on the way.
Mr Hepburn said: “Given government is accountable and responsible to parliament, and that’s a responsibility I take seriously, it’s incumbent on me to recognise we should say to parliament what the next subject material of the forthcoming prospectus papers will be.
“But what I can say in terms of broad timescale is we’re probably talking in the coming weeks that we’ll publish the next one.”
Scottish Conservative shadow constitution secretary Donald Cameron MSP said: “The public will be dismayed but not surprised to learn that the SNP are set to ramp up their relentless push for independence.
“Scottish people want and expect the SNP government to focus on their real priorities – like the cost-of-living crisis and unacceptable NHS waiting lists – rather than wasting time and taxpayer resources on another biased paper touting the break-up of the UK.
“Humza Yousaf should be ditching these Nicola Sturgeon-era PR stunts, which lack all credibility, and concentrating on the day job. But it’s a measure of how weak he is, that he’s doubling down on them, because independence is the only issue the feuding, scandal-ridden SNP can agree on.”
Scotland Secretary Alister Jack has written to the government’s permanent secretary to demand that no civil servants be allowed to work under Mr Hepburn while also querying if it was within their powers to have an independence minister.
Mr Cameron added: “Appointing a minister for independence was shameless and unjustifiable, particularly in light of the Supreme Court ruling last year. But Jamie Hepburn has confirmed what we all suspected by saying: ‘I’m the Minister for Independence but of course all Scottish Government ministers are ministers for independence.’
“That admission tells you all you need to know about how out of touch this SNP government is. Only the Scottish Conservatives are focused on the public’s real priorities.”
So far the SNP has published papers titled “A Stronger Economy with Independence”, “Independence in the modern world” and “Renewing democracy through independence”, all of which have resulted in criticism, conflicting views.
Polling has consistently shown how low down the list of priorities IndyRef2 falls- behind the NHS, economy and cost of living- and among voters who have an opinion the Yes camp has been trailing behind those who want to stay as part of the UK.
Never miss the latest top headlines from the Scottish Daily Express. Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
READ NEXT: