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UK PM hopeful sparks anger with jibes over Scottish leader

#hopeful #sparks #anger #jibes #Scottish #leader

Scotland’s ruling nationalists lashed out at Britain’s Conservative leader Liz Truss on Tuesday after she accused her leader Nicola Sturgeon of being an “attention-seeker” for independence.

The Foreign Secretary’s provocative comments came as her Tory leadership race against Rishi Sunak appeared to be heating up.

Previous polls had put Truss more than 20 points ahead of Sunak among Conservative members. But according to a new poll reported by The Times on Tuesday, their lead has narrowed to just five points: 48-43 percent.

Truss plunged into a debate on the UK’s constitutional future at a Tory Hustings event in Exeter, south-west England, late Monday.

“I think the best thing to do with Nicola Sturgeon is ignore her,” she said.

While the comments drew loud cheers from party members in attendance, they were criticized for undermining the UK’s decentralized system, when it also clashes with the European Union over post-Brexit trade in Northern Ireland.

The Scottish National Party (SNP) is pushing for a second referendum on Scottish independence.

When asked if she could support such a vote, Truss echoed a famous speech by her idol, Margaret Thatcher, by replying, “No, no, no.”

John Swinney, Sturgeon’s deputy as Scotland’s first minister, called the comments “obnoxious” and contrasted the roughly 200,000 Tory members with the 2.4 million votes won by the SNP in last year’s election.

“Nicola Sturgeon has far more democratic legitimacy than Liz Truss will have if she becomes Prime Minister,” he told BBC television.

“And I think Liz Truss has absolutely no right or basis to make those comments,” Swinney said, arguing Truss’s “stupid, inappropriate intervention” caused Scotland to go its own way.

Truss spoke at the second of 12 hustings as Tory members decide between her and former Finance Minister Sunak to succeed Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Sunak has also ruled out another referendum, calling it “the wrong priority at the worst possible moment” last week, after Scots narrowly voted to remain in the UK in 2014.

– ‘Always moan’ –

The SNP, which argues that Brexit has changed the debate, wants to hold a second referendum in October 2023.

The Supreme Court in London plans to hold hearings on October 11 and 12 this year on whether it would be legal to do so without the consent of the UK government, which until then has been led by Truss or Sunak.

“Keeping Britain together means confronting nationalism and beating it at the ballot box. Only I have a plan for it,” Sunak said on Tuesday after winning the support of 10 fellow Scottish Conservatives.

Tory members have started voting by mail and online after scandal-hit Johnson was forced to announce his resignation. The result will be available on September 5th.

Truss was reminded by the moderator at the Exeter Hustings that Sturgeon has a democratic mandate to govern Scotland. Instead, she dismissed the SNP leader as an “attention seeker.”

The Conservative leadership candidate dubbed herself the “Child of the Union” after attending primary school in Scotland.

“What we need to do is show the people of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales what we are doing for them and make sure all our government guidelines are applied across the UK.”

Truss’ comments about the leader of Britain’s second largest nation fueled criticism that her language may be ill-advised when she encouraged the British to fight in Ukraine early in the Russian invasion.

And many pointed to Truss’s own high profile on social media and repeated invocations of Thatcher, the Conservative prime minister in the 1980s, at photo opportunities, such as when she posed on top of a tank.

“Has ever a politician anywhere shown less confidence than Liz Truss, whom Nicola Sturgeon called ‘observant’?” Bestselling author Philip Pullman tweeted.

But Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Truss ally in Johnson’s cabinet, accused Sturgeon of “always whining” instead of tackling Scotland’s “failing” education and health systems.

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#hopeful #sparks #anger #jibes #Scottish #leader

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