Nicola Sturgeon: Election is an 'inconvenience' says Carlaw

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Jackson Carlaw told Express.co.uk that he has been surprised by Nicola Sturgeon’s approach towards TV and online hustings in the build-up to the Scottish Parliamentary election. The former Scottish Tory leader suggested the electoral campaign forced the First Minister into facing her record on key issues away from the pandemic.

Mr Carlaw said: “I think she got a second wind of popularity as leaders tend to do wherever they are serving across the world when countries are faced with a national emergency.

“The natural inclination of people is to support the person in the job of leadership of whom frankly they feel their livelihoods depend.

“Prior to Covid, I feel Nicola Sturgeon’s popularity was moving into negative territory and the public was becoming much more alert to the failures of the Scottish Government.

“I think during the course of this campaign those themes have reemerged and people are once again confronted with the record on drugs, health education.

“I am starting to question the relevance of Nicola Sturgeon and her performance.

“I have been quite surprised. I would almost suggest she needs to go to an online charm school because she has become very irritated and aggressive during these television and online hustings.

“It is almost as if she views the whole process of this election as a monumental inconvenience of her divine right to continue to rule.”

During the same interview, Mr Carlaw stated that Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP is re-running their 2019 general election campaign ahead of the crucial May Holyrood election.

SNP 'made a mistake' with campaign focus says Carlaw

The former Scottish Tory leader added that the SNP campaign has been a mistake and as a result, he does not expect the party to be able to secure a majority in Holyrood on their own.

He said: “It looks to me as if the tide is now turning. The longer people are looking at these issues the more it is shifting.

“I have been surprised that the SNP has tried to re-run the 2019 general election campaign by focussing entirely on Boris Johnson and Brexit.

“Part of the problem we found in 2019 focussing on independence was that a number of people said to us ‘look we agree with you about that but it is not really the issue in this particular election’.

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“I think the flipside is now true, people know Boris is not standing for the Scottish Parliament and they know that Brexit is not the issue of this election.

“They know perfectly well that the issue of this election is independence and the record of the SNP who runs the Government of Scotland.”

Mr Carlaw continued: “So I think that their campaign has been a mistake and I do not think it is energising the sort of vote that they managed to pull together in 2019.

“So I think they are absolutely going to have to depend on somebody.”

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