STURGEON IS A LIAR AND HER POLITICS IS IN THE GUTTER

NICOLA Sturgeon holds a privileged position as the elected First Minister of our country. But on Tuesday evening she demeaned the office she holds and her actions will have seismic consequences – which it is likely she never even considered.

In the live STV leaders’ debate, the SNP leader claimed I had told her, in a private telephone conversation, that I would drop my long-standing opposition to a second independence referendum. It was a categorical lie, plain and simple.

Throughout my adult life I have campaigned against independence. I was proud to be part of the Better Together campaign in 2014, promoting Labour’s values of solidarity across our family of nations.

Anyone who knows me knows I would never support independence as it would inflict such economic pain and misery on working families across Scotland: a £15billion deficit on day one.

Anyone who knows me knows how angry I remain over the divisions the 2014 referendum caused – how it poisoned our politics, leading to wounds that will take years to heal.

Not only do I oppose a second independence referendum, I have put that opposition at the very heart of my General Election campaign.

When voters go to the polls across Scotland today, they can elect a Labour MP who will oppose an unwanted and unnecessary second referendum. And in seats such as Edinburgh South, East Lothian and East Renfrewshire, it is only Labour that can defeat the SNP.

My opposition to another referendum is absolute. But those of us who see Nicola Sturgeon up close every week are sadly used to her being a stranger to the truth.

She once claimed that improving our schools was her ‘defining mission’ when we all know that her only mission is independence. Indeed, when asked to name the First Minister’s top priority in a recent opinion poll, only 3 per cent of Scots chose education.

Sixty-two per cent rightly said it was independence.

During the Scottish leaders’ debate last year, Nicola Sturgeon assured an audience member that there was no threat to the children’s ward at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley. Guess what? It’s now threatened with closure.

The SNP claimed to have legal advice on an independent Scotland’s membership of the EU. But Nicola Sturgeon was later forced to admit that no such legal advice existed.

She claimed only a Yes vote could stop the Scottish NHS being privatised, and claimed she did not build the economic case for independence on oil.

And, of course, she claimed that the 2014 referendum would be a ‘once in a generation’ vote. It was all a catalogue of lies.

Now we can add what she said about our private telephone conversation to that list.

IDID speak to the First Minister in the hours after the EU referendum. She called me – and other leaders – and we both expressed our disappointment at the result.

I said Labour would work with the Scottish Government to ensure Scotland could still have as strong and close a relationship with Europe as possible. That was the responsible thing to do and something my MSPs have done ever since.

I told her our support would be based on her being transparent about the process, and talks with the UK Government about how that relationship could be maintained. Unfortunately, she chose not to share with us any advice or information. The one time we disagreed with the SNP in a Holyrood vote on Brexit was when the First Minister tried to suggest our relationship with Europe is more important than our relationship with the rest of the UK. Another lie.

Nicola Sturgeon speaks to business leaders looking to invest in our country, charity bosses raising valid concerns and politicians and dignitaries from across the globe.

How can they ever again trust the First Minister not to misrepresent what they said to her?

She wants to have a place at the negotiating table during Brexit. Why would anyone have any trust that confidential discussions would remain confidential or that she wouldn’t misrepresent what took place?

Across Scotland today there are countless people who will now have reservations about ever speaking to Nicola Sturgeon again.

That could harm our economy and without doubt erode trust in government. Nicola Sturgeon’s character and her judgment are now on the ballot paper today. I urge voters to back Labour to show the First Minister they will not stand for her gutter politics.