PATRICK Harvie has said that Westminster's opposition to a second independencereferendum "can't hold for long".
The Scottish Greens co-leader Boris Johnson's government were relying on "legalisms" to block indyref2, and had no "political credibility".
Speaking after being returned to the Scottish Parliament as the joint leader of an eight-strong group of MSPs, Harvie told the BBC: "The arguments that are playing out now are a little bit of positioning and shadow-play, at this early stage "I think [this] exposes the fact that the UK Government looks likely to rely only on leagalisms and not on any sense of political credibility.
"This is a UK Government that has started routinely legislating in devolved areas, not just without the consent of the Scottish Parliament, but against the explicity refusal of consent."
"So they have no respect for the devolution settlement and the idea that they now only have this argument that one interpretatiomn of the Scotland Act would prevent a devolved parliament from deciding to have a referendum when the people of Scotland have decided to - it exposes how weak their position is.
"If all they have is legalisms and no political credibility then I think, very clearly, that can't hold for long."
READ MORE: Val McDermid has perfect answer to 'absurd' Sky News question about independence
Harvie's comments come after Nicola Sturgeon told Boris Johnson a second independence referendum is "a matter of when not if” in the wake of the SNP’s landslide election win.
Harvie said indyref2 should take place within the next five years, but should wait until the Covid pandemic has eased.
He said: "There are areas where we simply come up against the fundamental limits of devolution.
"If we want to use this recovery phase as an incredible, historic opportunity to decide what kind of country we want to be - a fairer, more equal and greener country - then that has to involve the question where power lies and if Boris Johnson's Brexit Britian is the best context to be building that country."
Earlier today, John Swinney said indyref2 should take place when coronavirus has been consistently suppressed and the vaccine and testing systems are operating effectively.
READ MORE: John Swinney says indyref2 should go ahead when 'virus is suppressed'
He told the BBC Good Morning Scotland programme: “We judge it by a combination of things – the actions that we’ve got to take to suppress the prevalence of the virus, and to make sure that we are in a stable position.
“Secondly, that we are able to sustain that position to make sure that we’ve got the necessary infrastructure in place to ensure that the virus is suppressed.”
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