Prime Minister Boris Johnson has insisted a “once-in-a-generation” vote on Scottish independence means exactly that.
He said a second vote will not be held until probably 2055.
Citing the votes on Europe – the first in 1978 and the second in 2016 – he suggested that was “a good sort of gap”.
Those sums would push a second Scottish vote to 2055.
Mr Johnson said referenda should not be regular as they were “not particularly jolly events”.
And they have a divisive impact on the country.
He also pointed out that Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the 2014 vote was a “once-in-a-generation event” – only to change her mind when she lost.