MICHAEL Gove’s new UK Government Union defence team will only help the Scottish independence cause, Yes leaders say.

Yesterday details emerged of a new unit established by Gove in a bid to quash the rising support for change seen in recent polls.

A report in the Sunday Times revealed at least two government press officers will be put to work on the pro-Union project in a full-time media blitz, with some charged with combatting work done by the SNP.

An unnamed Conservative Party strategist told the paper that the existing Union unit in Boris Johnson’s government is “consumed by Covid-19 and by Brexit”, adding: “Within government there’s a lot of unfocused and panicky activity. The unit has become a Brexit unit and about how the UK Government can raise its profile in Scotland.”

A new external anti-independence group may follow. Gove and Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross are understood to be in talks with party donors about funding the campaign ahead of next year’s Holyrood elections.

That’s after recent polling put support for independence at a record high of 58%.

Boris Johnson has said he’ll stand firm against granting the Section 30 Order needed to put a second indyref on a legal footing.

But many Scottish politicians and commentators say that position is becoming increasingly untenable in the face of growing Yes support.

Now leading Yes campaigners have told The National that Gove’s plan will backfire – and benefit the independence movement.

Pete Wishart MP commented: “If Michael Gove seriously thinks people in Scotland want to see even more of our taxes wasted on hiring Tory spin doctors to lecture us about the so-called benefits of Westminster then he must be living on another planet entirely.

The National: Pete Wishart will chair the committee hearing the evidence. Photograph: Getty

“The majority for independence is growing because more and more people believe Scotland would be better off making our own decisions with the full powers of an independent country.”

Wishart, who represents Perth and North Perthshire, continued: “Scotland has been completely ignored by Westminster throughout the Brexit process. We now face the prospect of an extreme Brexit and power grab being imposed against our will by a Tory Government we didn’t vote for.

“It is clearer than ever that the only way to protect Scotland’s interests and our place in Europe is to become an independent country. People in Scotland deserve the right to choose our own future instead of having it dictated to us.”

Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie, who is eyeing record wins for his party in 2021, said: “I suspect that few things will push undecided voters toward independence more quickly than the UK Government taking the money we all pay in taxes and throwing it at another effort to prevent Scots from having the right to decide on our own future.

“No amount of PR is going to hide the fact that they have put Brexit and cronyism ahead of the public interest, both here and throughout the UK.”

The Glasgow MSP went on: “Scotland didn’t vote for the Tories or for Brexit. There is overwhelming support for the Scottish Parliament, which the UK Government is undermining. Instead of throwing our money at their PR pals, the Tories should cancel Brexit, scrap their plans for a veto over devolved affairs and let the people who live in Scotland determine our future.”

READ MORE: Alister Jack admits Brexit is fuelling Scottish independence support

Voices for Scotland chair Audrey Birt said: “I welcome the fact that they realise that things are shifting.

“I would hope that they could come to this in listening mode. My fear is that’s not what’s going to happen – talk of muscular unionism gives me real concern that we are just going to hear more of the same.

“That’s not going to help their cause. It might help ours.

“If all the old Project Fear stories were to come out again people would see through them more than they did before. That is already happening.

“Scotland is changing and people are recognising that. People are seeing that we can have a proactive government able to govern through difficult times as well as easier times. For Westminster, it’s a different story.”

A UK Government spokesperson said: “The UK Government is the government for all the UK and is working in the interests of people right across the country.

“We are focused on tackling the pandemic and helping the economy recover, working closely with colleagues in devolved administrations in every part of the UK.

“There is already a strong civil service presence in Scotland and the new UK Government hub in Edinburgh is part of our plans to make sure more senior officials are distributed across all parts of the country – closer to the communities we serve”.