Indyref2 bid ‘misjudged the country’
NICOLA Sturgeon was accused of misjudging Scotland’s mood with her plans for indyref2 in a bruising TV encounter with voters last night.
On a BBC Question Time election special, the First Minister was also criticised over her record on education.
Sturgeon defended the SNP’s term in office and warned that this election is about stopping the Tories from getting a free hand in Brexit.
But polls suggest voters won’t back a Yes vote at the second time of asking – and Sturgeon’s popularity has dipped since the SNP won 56 of 59 Westminster seats just two years ago.
Asked if she misjudged the public mood on indy, Sturgeon said: “Sometimes in politics you have to do what you think is right.
“All politicians make calculations but sometimes you have to be guided by principle.
“We face not just Brexit but perhaps a very extreme form of Brexit that could have consequences for life in Scotland for generations to come.”
Sturgeon announced another referendum is likely hours after the Brexit vote last year. Polls on independence have been virtually static since.
Last night, she faced criticism for dumping a pledge that the 2014 indy poll was a “once in a generation” vote.
To jeers from the audience, Sturgeon said: “I don’t think it’s right for a politician to dictate to a country what it’s future should be. That should be a choice for the people.”
Sturgeon said the risks of a big Tory win on Thursday are too great to ignore and she’d work in a progressive alliance to shut Theresa May out.
She told the crowd: “Unfortunately the Conservatives are still likely to win but it is no longer inevitable, in my view, that Theresa May gets a bigger majority.
“That’s a choice for Scotland - do we vote for MPs that stop Theresa May increasing her majority or not.”
Sturgeon appeared on Question Time after Lib Dem leader Tim Farron, who warned that May is heading for a “landslide”.
He said: “I wish she wasn’t, but she called the election for that very purpose.”