No Scotland independence vote before 2024: minister

Scotland will not be given a new referendum on independence before 2024, a senior UK cabinet minister said in an interview published yesterday. Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove, who heads a UK government strategy unit on policy for the country's four nations, said a vote was unlikely in the immediate future. "I can't see it," Gove, a Scot, told the Daily Telegraph when asked if Prime Minister Boris Johnson would approve the move before the next scheduled UK general election. "It's foolish to talk about a referendum now -- we're recovering from Covid," he added.