Sturgeon condemned over Narnia tweet
A TWEET from Nicola Sturgeon in which she urged Scots to opt for independence rather than stay with a postBrexit UK has been widely condemned.
The First Minister triggered a row and was accused of putting her ‘obsession’ of breaking up the Union ahead of all else.
Miss Sturgeon took to Twitter to attack Tory politicians who had likened Boris Johnson to a character in CS Lewis’s fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia.
She said she didn’t know whether to ‘laugh or cry’ at the latest intervention by Brexiteers – which compared Mr Johnson to lion Aslan, and Theresa May to the Ice Queen. Scots, she said, should ‘opt to stay in the real world’ by voting to leave the UK, leaving ‘idiots’ such as Mr Johnson behind.
Scottish Conservative chief whip Maurice Golden said: ‘Nicola Sturgeon is still trying to use Brexit to push for her obsession with independence. It shows she prefers to act as leader of an independence campaign rather than First Minister of Scotland.’
Miss Sturgeon’s intervention comes as a poll indicates the SNP is set to lose a proindependence majority at the next Holyrood election. The Panelbase survey shows the SNP would be down six seats on the 2016 vote, with the Greens losing two MSPs.
With the Tories set to win three more seats, as well as Labour and the Lib Dems adding two MSPs, it would put a pro-Union majority into the Scottish parliament.
The poll, published in the Sunday Times, found 59 per cent of Scots think independence would be better than a no-deal Brexit, while 41 per cent favoured leaving the EU.
Polling expert Sir John Curtice said those who voted Remain in 2014 are likely to back staying in the UK, despite Brexit.
He added: ‘Although this poll suggests support for independence may have edged up a bit, the Nationalist movement still finds itself short of the support it needs to win a second independence referendum.’