President Donald Trump warns against second independence vote for 75 years

 Donald Trump has signalled that there should not be another Scottish independence referendum until at least 2064 because countries ‘can’t go through that too much’.

The US President said he thought there had been an agreement not to hold a rerun of the 2014 separation vote for at least another 50 years.

His comments came during the third full day of his visit to Scotland as he met Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at his Turnberry golf course, and just hours after John Swinney claimed that an SNP majority in next year’s Holyrood election would be a mandate for another independence referendum.

During a lengthy press conference with the Prime Minister, Mr Trump also said he wants Scotland to thrive as he vowed to consider removing punishing tariffs on Scotch whisky and made the case for more North Sea drilling.

He also directly pressed Sir Keir Starmer to take advantage of the North Sea’s oil reserves.

When asked about the SNP’s plan to demand another independence referendum if it wins a majority at next year’s Holyrood elections, Mr Trump said he had predicted the No vote the day before the 2014 referendum when he was visiting his first golf course at the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire.

He added: ‘I do say that when they made that deal (to hold a referendum) somebody said that it was - and I remember this very distinctly, I said “could they do this all the time?”. 

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

SNP figures including Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon had said at the time the vote was a ‘once in a generation opportunity’.

Mr Trump made the comments ahead of Mr Swinney attending a dinner with him in Aberdeenshire last night and the opening of his second course at Menie today (TUE).

Sir Keir said: ‘I believe in a stronger Scotland in a better United Kingdom and I think that at a time like this when it is quite clear there is uncertainty and volatility around the world, the strength of the United Kingdom together is very important for all four nations, very important for Scotland.

‘That should be our priority, that should be our focus - not on the politics which feels like the politics of yesteryear now at a time like this.

‘I think that the First Minister should probably focus more on his delivery in Scotland than on his constitutional issues, and we might have a better health service in Scotland. 

'At a time like this, I think the United Kingdom is always stronger as four nations, I think that is better for all four nations.’

It comes as Mr Swinney was condemned for an ‘absurd’ assertion that a generation has passed since Scots rejected independence.

In a desperate attempt to relaunch the SNP’s failing bid to break up the UK , he has claimed a majority for the party in next year’s Holyrood elections would be a mandate for another referendum.

He was accused of trying to silence SNP critics and was mocked for the claim that a generation has passed less than 11 years since Scots voted decisively to stay in the UK.

Then First Minister Alex Salmond and his successor Nicola Sturgeon previously described the 2014 referendum as a “once in a generation opportunity’.

After unveiling the latest bid to secure independence, Mr Swinney yesterday said: ‘There is fundamentally a democratic issue here that people in Scotland in a voluntary union must be able to choose their own democratic future, and that was accepted after the SNP won a majority in the Scottish Parliament, on our own, in 2011.

‘I am making the point that, having established that precedent, we must be in a position to be able to give the people of Scotland the choice about their constitutional future.

‘There is now, by the time we get to 2030, going to be a million people who were not eligible to vote in the last referendum in 2014. 

'A generation has now passed and I want to make sure that people in Scotland who want our country to have a choice about independence are able to do so in a democratic and legitimate fashion that can enable the establishment of an independent country as a consequence of a Yes vote.

‘And the way to do that is the way we did it in 2011, which is to elect a majority of SNP MSPs to the Scottish Parliament.’

In the 2014 vote, 55 per cent of Scots voted No and 45 per cent Yes.

Scottish Conservative deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said: ‘It’s patently absurd - and John Swinney knows it - to claim that 11 years constitutes “a generation”.

‘John Swinney is like a broken record. In a bid to silence internal critics of his weak leadership, he has thrown diehard nationalists some more red meat on the one issue they all agree on: independence.

‘Ordinary Scots are sick and tired of the SNP’s obsession with breaking up the UK. The public want John Swinney to focus on fixing the damage his government has done in decimating essential services such as schools and the NHS at the same time as making Scotland the highest taxed part of the UK.’

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: ‘This SNP government has lost its way and ran out of ideas - while one in six Scots suffer on an NHS waiting list.

‘Despite that, John Swinney can’t end his own obsession with division, and today has confired he’ll put Scots second to appease his own party.’

Alastair Cameron, chairman of Scotland in Union, said: ‘This intervention from the First Minister is precisely why we need to get rid of the SNP at the next election.

‘John Swinney is blatantly ramping up his independence rhetoric in the hope it motivates some SNP activists to hit the streets.

‘But he forgets the majority of Scots want a government that focuses on the things that really matter like health, schools and jobs.