Nicola Sturgeon sparks furious row with independence bid

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Nicola Sturgeon has heaped further criticism on the Prime Minister, as she argued independence provided an alternative to being left “at the mercy” of his “disreputable, discredited UK Government”. The Scottish First Minister confirmed “preparatory work is underway” to enable a second referendum to be held – a commitment both the SNP and their Scottish Green Party partners in Government made in their manifestos for last year’s Holyrood elections. Former SNP councillor Austrin Sheridan was sked if Ms Sturgeon is “spread toxicity”, he told GB News: “Absolutely not. I would not accuse any Scottish political leader of doing that.

“I would say that Nicola Sturgeon, she’s made it essential to encourage women into politics and other minorities.”

Host Dan Wootton added: “You never think Nicola Sturgeon has said anything toxic?”

Mr Sheridan continued: “What I do think is there are people on the internet who are very abusive.

“It’s not exclusive to people who support independence.”

His comments come after a Scottish audience member on BBC Debate Night slammed the First Minister over independence.

Speaking on BBC’s Debate Night, the audience member said: “The last independence referendum was horrendously divisive in Scotland and it set family against family.

“We’ve just come out of Brexit, there’s horrendous inflation, economic repercussions to come out of that.

“It’s all a question of timing.

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“There is a debate to be had but is it the right time to bring all this into an environment which is in absolute chaos at the moment with the pandemic?

“We don’t know where we are economically, we don’t know where we’re going to be economically. I think it’s premature.”

His comments come as the former Scotland editor of the BBC has spoken of her relief at moving to America after suffering abuse covering Scottish politics.

Sarah Smith, who was appointed the corporation’s North America editor last year, said she was subjected to hostility “most of the time” when preparing to go live on TV.

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Speaking to Rhys Evans – the head of corporate affairs at BBC Wales – for a paper for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University, the broadcaster said she had attracted “criticism, bile and hatred” from some sections of the Scottish population which she feared would damage the reputation of the BBC.

In one incident, she recounted, someone rolled down their car window and asked her: “What f****** lies are you going to be telling on TV tonight, you f****** lying bitch?”

Smith also said she was the subject of “misogynistic” ideas that she would follow the political ideology of her father – former Labour leader John Smith.

She said: “He was a very well-known politician, he was a unionist, people like to therefore assume that my politics must be the same as my father’s despite me being, one, a different person, and him having been dead for 27 years.”

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