SCOTLAND is set to receive hundreds of millions of pounds more each year directly from Whitehall, bypassing Edinburgh, whoever succeeds Theresa May as Prime Minister.

Senior ministerial sources have told The Herald that not only is Theresa May “on board” for the new approach to spending in Scotland and would like it to be part of her “legacy” but so too are Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, now vying in a head-to-head contest to replace her.

This week, the Prime Minister raised the controversial subject of “direct funding” with Scottish Conservative MPs at a private meeting in Downing St.

Nicola Sturgeon’s administration believes the new proposal, if enacted, would be a “power grab,” that would “trash” the devolved settlement.

Mrs May is expected to raise the issue in a planned visit to Scotland in the next fortnight or so; her last as PM.

Scottish Tory MPs have for some time been pressing their leader to initiate more direct funding from London to Scotland as a means of underpinning the Union.

For too long they claim voters have wrongly believed that expenditure on infrastructure has been initiated by the SNP administration when the money has come from Whitehall and merely funnelled through Edinburgh.

Earlier this month in a joint letter, Scottish Conservative MPs said: “If we are serious about communicating the benefits of the Union, then we have to show, not tell. The UK Government has to be involved in investing directly in communities in Scotland.”

With one eye to the 2021 Holyrood elections when the constitutional question will once again be to the fore, the Scottish Tories believe there is now a golden opportunity to shake up the system with the imminence of Brexit.

At present, EU Structural and Investment[ESI] Funds, which help finance small businesses, skills, and rural development, pump £2 billion each year into the UK economy with around £350 million of this going to Scotland via Edinburgh.

Yet these funds will end in December 2020 at the end of the so-called transition period and, post Brexit, the UK Government will replace them with a Shared Prosperity Fund to “reduce inequalities between communities”.

One Scottish Conservative MP said: “From then on, the money will come from Whitehall and we want Scottish voters to understand this and see the benefit and value of being part of the Union.”

The constitutional threat to the United Kingdom in the context of Brexit has been emphasised by several candidates already during the Tory leadership campaign and it is expected to be a key issue as the hustings take place across the country in the coming weeks, especially when Mr Johnson and Mr Hunt address Scottish Conservatives in Perth on July 5.

This week, David Lidington, Mrs May’s effective deputy, warned how the Union was under the severest strain he had ever known. “The fact England and Wales voted to leave in the referendum and Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain adds to…political tensions.” A no-deal Brexit, he added, “would add to the risks to the Union”.

Senior ministers explained Mrs May had wanted the switch to more direct funding to be part of her legacy but they admit time is now too short, making it impossible.

However, one key Whitehall insider made clear direct funding was now the “direction of travel” for Government given Mr Johnson’s and Mr Hunt’s commitment to it.

A senior minister told The Herald: “The PM is very supportive of the direct funding idea. Conservative MPs have been lobbying her hard. The leadership candidates have said it is on the agenda for the next incoming government. They are all on board.”

Another well-placed minister agreed, saying Mrs May was very much behind the plan. “She wants to leave a legacy and would like this to be part of it. But even she recognises her power has dissipated and so it will be up to her successor to implement.”