By Ben Kerrigan-
Tory leadership hopeful Liz Truss has referred to Nicola Sturgeon as an “attention seeker” .Sturgeon ruled out a second independence referendum, as she described herself as “a child of the Union”, having spent some of her youth living in Paisley.
Talking to voters at the hustings event, Ms Truss said: “I really believe we’re a family and we’re better together.”
Tory party members then cheered and applauded as she said: “I think the best thing to do with Nicola Sturgeon is ignore her.
“She’s an attention seeker, that’s what she is.
“What we need to do is show the people of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales what we’re delivering for them and making sure that all of our government policies apply right across the United Kingdom.”
One of Ms Truss’s allies, Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg, doubled down on the comments this morning, saying Ms Sturgeon was “waffling on endlessly about having a referendum”, rather than focusing on “the failings of the Scottish government to deliver the services for the people of Scotland”.
He told Sky News the country got through the COVID pandemic “because of the support that there was for the United Kingdom as a whole”, not because of the first minister “doing daily press conferences [and] wanting a permanent lockdown”.
Mr Rees Mogg added: “I think she is very often wrong, she is always moaning and we need to focus on how the union benefits people.”
Scotland’s deputy first minister John Swinney said her comments were “completely and utterly unacceptable”
Mr Swinney told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme that Scotland had been “ridden roughshod over” by the attitudes of the Conservative party over the last few years.
He cited the UK Internal Market Bill as an example of an “erosion” to democracy in Scotland.
He said: “When people are saying to us we would like our two governments to work more closely together, this comment from Liz Truss demonstrates what we are up against.
“I come across this frequently when I’m dealing with the UK government – a contempt for Scotland, a desire to belittle Scotland and not hear our voice.
Attention seeker? Image: Nicola Sturgeon
“And if you don’t believe me on this just listen to what Mark Drakeford, the Labour first minister of Wales, says – he says exactly the same thing about how Wales is treated.”
Liz Truss , who is favourite to become the next Uk prime minister attracted criticism when she vowed to cut civil service salaries and reduce expenditure to recoup £11bn a year in a “war on Whitehall waste” if she becomes prime minister.
It included paying staff less outside London and cutting annual holiday allowance. Truss also promised to “tackle left-wing groupthink in government” and to scrap diversity and inclusion jobs, saying they “distract from delivering on the British people’s priorities”.
One of her backers, Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg, doubled down on the comments this morning, saying Ms Sturgeon was “waffling on endlessly about having a referendum”, rather than focusing on “the failings of the Scottish government to deliver the services for the people of Scotland”.
He told Sky News the country got through the COVID pandemic “because of the support that there was for the United Kingdom as a whole”, not because of the first minister “doing daily press conferences [and] wanting a permanent lockdown”.
Mr Rees Mogg added: “I think she is very often wrong, she is always moaning and we need to focus on how the union benefits people.”