Sillars slams Nationalist plea for Unionist vote

VOTES for the SNP in the General Election cannot now be used to boost the case for another independence referendum, according to a former party heavyweight.

Jim Sillars, once a deputy leader of the SNP, criticised Nicola Sturgeon for trying to appeal to voters who do not support independence.

In an open letter, Miss Sturgeon appealed to all Remain voters to back her party to prevent Brexit.

But Mr Sillars, who earlier this week warned of anti-EU voters in the SNP being ‘disenfranchised’ by the pro-Remain stance of the party, said: ‘The application of intellectual rigour has long been absent in the higher reaches of the SNP, but Nicola Sturgeon’s appeal for Remain Unionist voters to back her on December 12 beggars belief. As the ballot is secret we shall never know on December 13 if they did, and in what proportion. But that invitation alone, aimed at combining a Unionist and Independence vote, will enable any Westminster government to say the SNP result means nothing in relation to any popular demand, or an SNP mandate for a Section 30 order. Does no one at the top of the SNP think before they speak?’

Mr Sillars was a Labour MP for South Ayrshire in the 1970s as well as being a Nationalist MP in Glasgow in the late 1980s. Earlier this week, the Mail revealed a warning from Mr Sillars that he, together with other Brexit supporters, will not be voting for the SNP if it continues to push a pro-EU message.