Boris Johnson’s greatest challenge is nothing to do with Brexit

The Scottish papers carry two difficult polls for Downing Street. One, from Survation, puts support for independence at 50/50; another, from Panelbase, has it at 52 per cent in favour and 48 per cent against. The cursed percentages.

I say difficult polls for Downing Street rather than Westminster in general because the Union — not Brexit, or terrorism, or northern regeneration — is the number one challenge facing Boris Johnson’s government. I appreciate that I banged on about this as recently as Friday but I intend to keep banging on about it because a) it’s true, and b) I cannot bring myself to care about Nish Kumar.

The Prime Minister’s refusal of a Section 30 order — the legal mechanism which would allow the Scottish parliament to hold another referendum — was the right call. It is also good to hear talk about ‘love-bombing’ Scotland and hosing us down with more cash, not because this is sufficient to see off the separatist threat, but because it’s a start.