Police probe SNP activist’s ‘Get out of Scotland’ video
POLICE are investigating a Nationalist who allegedly posted live footage on the internet of her following Tory campaigners, yelling: ‘Get out of Scotland.’
The clip shows SNP activist Lorna Taylor hurling abuse at the election volunteers as they deliver leaflets in her village, Cowie, Stirlingshire, as she tailed them in her van.
Last night, as critics said the video had dragged Scottish politics into the gutter, police confirmed they had received a complaint about the incident, believed to have taken place on Thursday evening.
Mrs Taylor – a former cleaner who has posed for photos with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond – was unrepentant, though.
Speaking at her semi-detached home while wearing an ‘I’m Scottish, Not British’ T-shirt, she said: ‘It’s freedom of speech, it’s a free country.’
The four-minute video opens with Mrs Taylor at the wheel, saying to camera: ‘I’m going live because I’ve got the Tories.’ Then a street in Cowie is shown, with
‘No place in politics for this’
the vehicle apparently following a group of five Conservatives while a folk song denouncing ‘Westminster Tories’ blares out.
Mrs Taylor tells her friend to open the passenger window before she shouts remarks, including: ‘Get out of Cowie, get out of Bannockburn, get out of Scotland, you’re not welcome!’
The campaigners do not react and continue walking.
The barracking continues as she draws level with the group, Mrs Taylor sneering: ‘Tories are not welcome, now, move! Every time you turn up on a street you will be coming after [sic].’
The video closes with a message to her audience, saying: ‘Right they’re up the top park so I’ll be heading up there after them and if there’s anybody else in Cowie that’s free to come and lend a hand with the Tories, feel free.’
Mrs Taylor is a co-organiser of the Freedom Convoy, a campaign group for the Yes side in the independence referendum. She was also a leading light among Nationalists who celebrated outside Holyrood when SNP and Green MSPs carried a vote to hold a second referendum.
Scottish Tory deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said: ‘It’s clear that there is no place in politics for behaviour like this.’
But SNP councillor Alasdair MacPherson, who represents Bannockburn on Stirling Council, posted a ‘well done’ message beneath the video. He later wrote on Facebook: ‘I hear that the toxic Tory candidate was canvassing in Cowie tonight – only to be confronted by several local residents who reminded him in no uncertain terms of the damage Thatcher and his poisonous party had inflicted on our mining villages.’
Last night, the SNP said it would not be taking disciplinary action against Mrs Taylor. A spokesman said: ‘She has been spoken to and reminded that political arguments should be made with courtesy and respect.’
Police Scotland last night appealed for witnesses. A spokesman said: ‘We are investigating following a report of anti-social behaviour in the Cowie area. Inquiries are currently ongoing.’