SNP leader mocked for poster that echoes Thatcher
NICOLA STURGEON yesterday denied stealing one of Margaret Thatcher’s election slogans for a Scottish National Party poster campaign ahead of next week’s Scottish Parliament elections.
The billboard bears a head-and-shoulders photograph of the First Minister alongside the words: “Don’t just hope for a better Scotland, vote for one.”
The advert bears a striking similarity to a 1979 Conservative Party poster featuring a similarly framed picture of Lady Thatcher, which told voters: “Don’t just hope for a better life. Vote for one.”
Ms Sturgeon last night insisted any comparison between the two was “desperate” but she faced mockery, with Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, suggesting that the SNP leader will continue to copy Lady Thatcher by implementing spending cuts after the election.
The similarity of the posters is particularly uncomfortable for Ms Sturgeon as she has claimed she entered politics because of her anger at the impact on Scotland of the former prime minister’s policies. Alex Rowley, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader, said: “We knew the SNP under Nicola Sturgeon had ditched the Left-wing rhetoric, but we didn’t expect them to start stealing Thatcher’s lines.”
A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: “They say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Clearly Nicola Sturgeon looks up to Margaret Thatcher more than she would like to admit.”
Ms Sturgeon said: “It just shows beyond any doubt how desperate Labour are. We’re fighting a positive campaign, full of hope and optimism about the future of Scotland.” The SNP also point- ed out the Greens had used a similar billboard.
The row broke out amid fierce Leftwing criticism of Ms Sturgeon that she is refusing to use Holyrood’s new powers to increase income tax and fund higher public spending. Instead she intends to stick with the tax rates set by George Osborne in the rest of the UK.
The SNP leader admitted during an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Is
land Discs last year that she was reading Charles Moore’s official biography of Lady Thatcher as she was “interested in the whole kind of art and science of decision-making”.