Daily Record

Twitter tirade highlights divisions

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I WAS shocked and appalled to see a pro-independen­ce blogger’s homophobic tweets during the Tory conference.

Abuse and discrimina­tion should have no part in our politics.

But the Twitter tirade against David Mundell and his son Oliver is sadly symptomati­c of our divided politics.

People are welcome to disagree and challenge – indeed, it is healthy that we do so.

But it is utterly unacceptab­le for someone to face abuse because of their sexuality, or indeed race or religion.

Such comments are, of course, not unique to the man who tweets as Wings Over Scotland.

But it is depressing and dishearten­ing that there are SNP politician­s who promote his work.

As politician­s, we have a responsibi­lity to lead from the front and call out abuse for what it is – unacceptab­le. No elected member of any party should be endorsing someone who spouts hatred and homophobia towards others.

It runs entirely counter to the sort of progressiv­e, welcoming country we all want to Scotland to be.

I hope Wings Over Scotland – and the SNP politician­s who share his work – will reflect on what was said and recognise it as unacceptab­le. We are divided enough. Scottish Labour believe together we’re stronger.

 ??  ?? ABUSED David Mundell and his son Oliver
ABUSED David Mundell and his son Oliver

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