NICOLA Sturgeon admitted she wants a Labour Government and sparked a major backlash for declaring she “detests” all Tories.
Scotland’s First Minister was accused of using dangerous and divisive language that even risked “nationalist violence” following her TV outburst.
Nicola Sturgeon admitted she wants a Labour Government and sparked a major backlash for declaring she ‘detests’ all Tories
She told the BBC: ‘I worked very well with Keir Starmer’ in their joint efforts to stop Brexit
The SNP boss told the BBC: “If the question to me is would I prefer a Labour government over a Tory government – I detest the Tories and everything they stand for – so it’s not difficult to answer that question.”
Hinting she could prop up Labour, she told the BBC: ‘I worked very well with Keir Starmer” in their joint efforts to stop Brexit.
But she added she was “really disappointed he had “thrown in the towel on the EU and no longer wants to take the UK or Scotland back into” it.’
Cabinet Minister Nadhim Zahawi branded the comments “dangerous”, while MSP Russell Findlay said: “I fear the day when they incite nationalist violence.”
And SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford appeared to distance himself from his boss’s diatribe.
When asked if he too “detested” the Tories, he said: “No, I see them as a political opponent. You don’t detest opponents, you work to remove them.”
The row came as Liz Truss told her warring party that they must unite or face a “monstrous coalition” SNP and Labour.
No10 warned mutinous MPs the “cold hard reality” of a Tory civil war would be PM Starmer backed up by Sturgeon.
And Zahawi added: “I want my colleagues to obviously focus, because any dither or delay will end in defeat.”
The PM faces a showdown with her Cabinet on Tuesday over real-terms cuts to the benefits bills – with No10 plotting a “tea room offensive” to try win around panicking MPs.
Truss will address all of her MPs at the 1922 Committee Wednesday night after a brutal party conference of open factional warfare.
But she was warned yesterday the Tories risked a “wipe out” without a change of direction.
Boris ally Nadine Dorries raged : “What we don’t need is a disruptor, what we need is a unifier.”
And George Osborne echoed those concerns saying a electoral wipe out was possible – but Truss still had two years to get growth going.
