'You can't keep putting your country through the torment of independence referendums'

THE PRESIDENT said a vote on independence for Scotland should be held only every “50 to 75 years”.

- By Richard Elias

In a brutal putdown of nationalist fervour to split up the UK, the most powerful man on the planet was in no doubt where he stood on the issue.

Speaking ahead of meeting the First Minister, Donald Trump told reporters that he had previously correctly predicted the outcome of the first vote.

Pressed on the issue of another independence referendum, the President stated: “I don’t want to get involved in your politics. We have got enough politics of our own. What I will say, I predicted what was going to happen the last time, you remember?

“I was opening the first course over at Aberdeen and I was over here and they asked me that question.

“It was the day before the vote and I like to be correct but I made a correct prediction.”

He went on: “When they made that deal, somebody said: ‘Could they do this all the time?’.

“There was a little bit of a restriction, like something like 50 or 75 years before you could take another vote. Because a country can’t go through that too much.”

During the afternoon briefing, Sir Keir Starmer also reiterated his belief in the Union.

The Prime Minister told reporters: “I believe in a stronger Scotland, in a better UK.