Scotland is being governed from Westminster by a “disreputable, discredited” UK Government with “no shame or moral compass” Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The First Minister said the actions of the Conservative Government and Boris Johnson is the alternative to independence and repeated her plan to hold a second referendum on independence by the end of next year.

Sturgeon said the Scottish Government intention was to hold a vote in line with the commitment made in the SNP manifesto before the Holyrood election last year.

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As she said opposition parties were “desperate” to deny people in Scotland a referendum a key argument from the 2014 vote returned.

Glasgow Times:

Ian Blackford, SNP Westminster leader, said the UK Government would pay for Scottish pensions after independence.

Sturgeon was asked to give an update on the referendum plans at Holyrood, by Stuart McMillan, an SNP backbench MSP.

The First Minister said:”In line with the clear mandate that was given by people in that election, preparatory work is under way so that a referendum can be held, as I have said, as the Covid crisis passes, and Covid permitting, within the first half of this parliamentary term.”

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McMillan said independence was the alternative to a “wretched and, certainly seemingly, corrupt Westminster”.

The First Minister said: “Any political party in this chamber that was confident in its arguments around independence would not be desperate to deny the people of Scotland the right to make that choice. The alternative to independence is to continue to be governed by parties at Westminster that we do not vote for, and, right now, that is by a disreputable, discredited Government and a Prime Minister with, frankly, no integrity, no shame and no moral compass; a Prime Minister who even Douglas Ross does not think is fit for office.”

Labour and Conservative politicians have meanwhile said the comments by SNP Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, on pensions being paid for by the UK after independence, were ridiculous.

Blackford said the UK government has an “obligation to meet the commitment to pensioners that have paid national insurance contributions.

“They have paid for the right to receive that pension.

“You can argue about the mechanism as to how that is transferred.”

He added: “If you or I go and live in another European country our right to that pension remains.”

Malcolm Cunning, Leader of Labour at Glasgow City Council, said: “This is madness on stilts.

“He is effectively saying that if Scotland became independent in 2025 a care worker in Dagenham or Doncaster would be paying for my pension till the day I die.

“Meanwhile, a Dundonian would not pay a penny.”

Glasgow Times:

The First Minister was asked by Murdo Fraser, Conservative MSP: “Is it really now the SNP position that pensions in an independent Scotland would be paid by taxpayers in England?”

Sturgeon replied, the UK Government position in the 2014 referendum was: “People with accumulated rights would continue to receive the current levels of state pension in an independent Scotland.”