Good morning and welcome to the Independent Republic of Mike Graham right here on Talker Radio.

It is the start of the big fight for the Union of the United Kingdom today as Prime Minister Boris Johnson heads to Scotland in an effort to head off what is being described as a surge in support for the Scottish National Party and Independence. Two recent polls

have charted the Scots as voting in favour of going it alone at the second time of asking

after losing their first bid back in 2014. Of course, that was supposed to be a once-in-lifetime

referendum. Turns out that wasn't true, like an awful lot of other promises that get made by all sorts of politicians in all sorts of parties.

But of course, here's the thing.

I don't believe that Nicola Sturgeon actually wants to hold another referendum at all.

Because she's been cleverly doing her level best all year to undermine the government and Boris Johnson at every single turn.

One minute calling his lifting of the lockdown reckless before ordering exactly the same measures just one week later.

She's being painted by her fans as a safe pair of hands.

But only a few months ago, the entire edifice of the SNP could have come crashing down around the trial of Alex Salmon, the former

first minister. He was found innocent of the charges against him and it all seems to have gone

away. And if the SNP were to lose a second referendum, of course, their independence dreams

would be over. They would be finished. They would be kaput. Here's what I believe, and this is

what I said to Alison Stewart just a few moments ago. I don't believe that Nicholas Sturgeon and the SNP actually want a second referendum,

because in any event, whether they won it or lost it, they would be finished as a political

force. There wouldn't be any point to the SNP. They suddenly have to be a party that was

fighting other parties on policy, not just on one single issue, because that's what

they're all about. We'll be asking Lib Dem MP for Edinburgh, Christine Jardin, what she makes of

it all, and I'm sure she'll be in support, as I am, of continued British support for Scotland's

economy. I know that many of you will have much to say about this, particularly if you live in

England, because an awful lot more people in England now want Scotland to become independent. They want to cut them off. They say,

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