Senior UK Government minister Michael Gove has predicted an SNP “rebrand”, as the party looks to put independence on the backburner.

Speaking at an event at the Scottish Tory conference in Glasgow, the levelling up secretary said the party would likely pitch itself as “Scotland’s party” ahead of the next election, but he told journalists such a move did not scare him.

“The SNP will change its approach for the moment,” he said.

“They have a base that of course they need to keep riled up and believing that independence was just over the horizon.”

But he said the SNP knows support for another vote is not there.

“They know that they’ve over-reached and therefore, I suspect, what they will do is they will rebrand themselves as Scotland’s party, fighting for more resources at Westminster and fighting to ensure that they deliver domestically in tune with Scottish values more broadly.”

Asked after the event if the security of the union being less significant could hurt his party, which pitches itself as the key defender of the UK, at the ballot box, Gove said: “No, I’m not frightened.

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