Scotland’s pandemic response has seemed like the height of competence compared to the frenzy of U-turns in London, and this has strengthened support for Scottish independence. If not handled carefully, Boris Johnson’s most enduring legacy won’t be Brexit, or his much-criticized handling of the crisis, but the dismantling of Britain’s three-centuries-old union.

The independence movement looked mortally weakened after the 2014 referendum, in which Scots voted to remain in the U.K. But according to a new poll, support for independence is now more than 55% — no doubt because of the growing perception that the Scottish National Party is a model of responsibility when compared with Johnson’s government.