MSP admits mistake over independence claim

An SNP MSP has admitted he made a “mistake” after falsely claiming that a majority of Scots supported independence during an interview on Kremlin-backed channel RT.

James Dornan told viewers during his appearance that a poll published on Tuesday morning had shown that 54 per cent of Scots wanted to leave the UK.

He made the claim after his interviewer on RT said support for Scottish independence was still at roughly the same level as it was in 2014, when 45 per cent of people voted Yes.

“As a matter of fact there was a poll this morning that showed independence support was up to 52 per cent I think...54 per cent. Against it was 46. So I think we’re in a good place just now,” he said.

Mr Dornan later admitted that he had made a “mistake”, posting a link to his Twitter fol- lowers showing that the Survation poll was two years old and conducted a few days after the Brexit vote.

He said he had wrongly thought it was new research as it had “popped up” on his Twitter feed that dau.

It is the second time this week that an SNP politician has caused controversy through an appearance on RT, which has been criticised by some of the party’s MPS and MSPS, including Nicola Sturgeon.

On Monday, the broadcasting regulator Ofcom ruled that Alex Salmond’s chat show on the channel had broken its rules within minutes of the first programme going on air.

It said the first edition of The Alex Salmond Show, broadcast last November, had misled its audience by presenting a series of messages as if they were from viewers. Its investigation established that most of the messages were from production staff, including a cameraman and a make-up artist.

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson claimed Mr Dornan had been “caught telling fibs on Russian state propaganda”, describing him and Mr Salmond as “Putin’s useful idiots”. “It seems @Alexsalmond isn’t the only SNP figure caught telling porkie pies on Putin’s propaganda arm. [James Dornan] has been at it as well,” she wrote on Twitter.

Mr Dornanclaimed the Tories were trying to deflect attention away from their “dark money, Brexit fiasco scandals”.