BORIS Johnson will recruit more Scots to the Yes movement if he refuses to shift on indyref2, according to an independence figurehead.

The SNP last night backed the comments from former Labour MP Dennis Canavan, who chaired the Yes campaign in 2014, hitting out at the Prime Minister’s “undemocratic stance”.

Former councillor Canavan, 77, spent more than 30 years in parliamentary politics, serving as an independent MSP until 2007.

In an interview with Scotland on Sunday, he said a hard no to indyrefy2 from the PM will only boost the Yes movement’s ranks.

He said: “If Boris Johnson continues to dig his heels in, he would prove to be a recruiting sergeant for the cause of independence and guarantee that the 2021 elections to the Scottish Parliament will produce an even bigger majority of MSPs in favour of indyref2.”

Canavan said he was “not at all surprised by the scale of the SNP success” at the General Election, adding: “The Unionist parties spent too much time in negative campaigning, trying to rubbish the case for independence and the perfectly legitimate demand for indyref2.

“The majority of MSPs support independence and are in favour of indyref2. By any reasonable definition of democracy, that constitutes a Scottish Parliamentary mandate from the people of Scotland to hold another referendum on independence.

“That mandate is reinforced by the SNP winning more than 80% of Scottish seats at the General Election."

Canavan said he can “see no credible alternative to a Section 30 Order” to secure a legal ballot on the constitution. Nicola Sturgeon has written to Johnson on this, but the Tory leader has repeatedly stated that he will not grant permission for such a vote.

Canavan also said there is “still much work to be done by the independence movement to win hearts and minds” of current and former Labour supporters.

He said many older voters also remain unconvinced of the pro-independence case, but went on: “I am confident that we can rise to that challenge so that indyref2 will produce a historic victory for the cause of independence.”

An SNP spokesperson said: “At the General Election, people across Scotland voted decisively for the SNP to escape Brexit, and to put Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands – not Boris Johnson’s.

“The choice over a better future lies solely with the people of Scotland – not a detached and broken Westminster system intent on inflicting further austerity, and imposing a catastrophic Brexit outcome

“Boris Johnson’s undemocratic stance is simply unsustainable.”