BORIS Johnson responded to news of a Scots community facing hardship because of Brexit, by ranting about independence.

In  an astonishing moment in the Commons, after being told about a seafood firm hit by bureaucracy at the border, the Prime Minister shared a social media conspiracy theory about the Scottish Government being too petty to use the word Oxford when referring to the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.

READ MORE: Boris Johnson rebuked by Ian Blackford for getting SNP's name wrong

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford used his questions during the weekly session to raise  the case of a constituent in Lochaber, who exports shellfish.

He told MPs: “After loading a lorry of fresh local seafood on Monday, as he’s done for 35 years, his driver faced bureaucracy and delays.

“Brexit red tape now means that £40,000 of his fresh, high quality produce is lost, unable to be sold. That £40,000 produce is income for over 100 local families in many remote and fragile communities.

“Can the Prime Minister tell my constituent where is the sea of opportunity that he and his Scottish Tories promised?”

Johnson responded: “Well, we’re putting £100 million into supporting the fishing industry in Scotland and across the whole of the UK.

“It is the policy of the Scottish nationalist party not just to break up the United Kingdom under their hare-brained scheme, but also to take Scotland back into the EU and hand back control of Scottish fisheries to Brussels, thereby throwing away all those opportunities.”

Blackford challenged Johnson for once again calling the SNP the Scottish nationalist party, despite having been repeatedly told the party’s correct name. 

He then asked whether there would be an increase in the financial support offered to businesses following the UK’s exit from the EU.

Blackford said: “The European Union have put in place a £5 billion fund to support businesses with the cost of Brexit and last night it was revealed that Ireland is receiving £1 billion of it.

“Can the Prime Minister tell Scottish business when they will be getting the same level of support and where’s the compensation for my constituent that’s losing £40,000 today?”

Johnson again avoided the question.

He said: “[Blackford] continually advocates the break-up of the union with the United Kingdom and he continually advocates going back into the European Union, even though that would be immensely destructive to the Scottish economy, to jobs, to livelihoods, to pensions, to the currency.

“As far as I understand it, they’re already spending money in Scotland on IndyRef2, what they call IndyRef2, when they should be getting on, Scottish nationalists, should be getting on with fighting the pandemic, that I think is what the people of Scotland want to see.

“He might pay tribute by the way to the merits of the United Kingdom in rolling out a vaccine across the whole of the country and I’m told, by the way, that they can’t even bring themselves to say the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, perhaps he could just say that he likes the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.”

READ MORE: Shameless Boris Johnson repeats debunked Tory lie about vaccines

Earlier in the session, Labour leader Keir Starmer accused Johnson of being "slow to act" in bringing in new restrictions.

"We keep things under constant review," Johnson replied. "If there is any need to toughen up restrictions - which I don't rule out - we will of course come to this House.

"The lockdown measures we have in place combined with tier four measures that we were using are starting to show signs of some effect and we must take account of that too."