Johnson Dismisses Sturgeon's Calls for Independence Vote, Says Scotland 'Had One in 2014'

"I think having another referendum, I don't think people in this country think referendums are very wonderful for harmony. We had one in 2014, the British people, the people of Scotland, were told in 2014 that that was a once-in-a-generation event", Johnson said in the Sunday interview.

He stressed that he personally did "not want to have one", seeing no reason to "go back on" the assurances given in 2014.

At a Saturday rally in Glasgow, Sturgeon claimed that Scotland's independence was "within a touching distance". She argued that the UK's 12 December election was most important ever to take the future of the region into its own hands. The Scottish leader wants to hold a new independence referendum next year, claiming that the situation has cardinally changed since 2014 as Scots rejected Brexit in the 2016 vote.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn notably said in late October that his party would not "stand in the way" of another Scottish referendum if Sturgeon's party won the 2021 Holyrood election.

Scots voted 55 percent to 45 percent to stay in the United Kingdom in the 2014 independence vote but overwhelmingly rejected the departure from the European Union two years later.

The Scottish government continues opposing any form of Brexit. Likewise, Sturgeon has repeatedly said she would not let Scotland be dragged out of the EU.