Sturgeon’s ‘pathetic’ appeal for court cash
NICOLA Sturgeon has been criticised over a ‘pathetic’ bid to get hard-pressed families to pay for her General election Tv debate legal fight.
The SNP leader launched a fundraising drive for £50,000 to finance her legal challenge against ITV over its decision not to invite her to the first leaders’ debate on Tuesday.
The party needs to raise the cash ahead of Monday, when its case is due to be heard in London. In a video aimed at supporters, Miss Sturgeon urges people to donate ‘a few pounds’ to ‘take on the UK establishment’. The party urges people to ‘chip in just £25’ to pay for the courtroom showdown.
Conservative MSP Jamie Greene said: ‘It’s quite astounding that, having instigated legal action against the UK media on the pretence of another nationalist grievance, the SNP is now asking hard-pressed families to pay for it.
‘The great irony in all of this is that the SNP continually blames everyone else for austerity, raised tax rates in Scotland and now wants people to part with their hard-earned cash to fund nonsensical PR stunts in the courts.’
But he added: ‘The Scottish public isn’t daft, and can see through these pathetic attempts to manufacture grievance.’
Tuesday’s debate will be a headto-head battle between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn.
The Liberal Democrats have lodged papers with the High Court, and are demanding that party leader Jo Swinson should take part. The SNP intends to argue that other parties such as the Greens, Plaid Cymru and the Brexit Party should also be involved in the debate.
A divisional court is due to decide on Monday morning whether or not to hear the two cases together or separately.
In the video, Miss Sturgeon says: ‘The tired old Westminster parties are trying to stitch up this election and shut Scotland out of
Tv debates. Well I’ve got a message for them: you’re not on.’
She then pleads: ‘The SNP will always fight to make Scotland’s voice heard but we are going to need your help. We need to raise the funds to challenge this unfair and unjust system.
‘If you can chip in just a few pounds then together we can take on the UK establishment.
‘every penny you provide will help us take the fight to Westminster and make sure Scotland’s future is in Scotland’s hands, not in Boris Johnson’s.’
The campaign mirrors the approach taken by Alex Salmond to fund the judicial review he launched against the Scottish Government over its investigation into allegations about him, which raised more than £100,000.
The SNP has been increasingly turning to online fundraising at a time when funding from major donors has dried up.
Its latest accounts show that it received only £323,936 from supporters last year – the lowest amount in a decade and less than a tenth of the sum it was handed in 2014, the year of the independence referendum.
Major donors such as EUROMILLIONS winners Chris and Colin Weir and Stagecoach tycoon Sir Brian Souter appear to have stopped handing the party cash.
The Weirs have not handed over any money since the 2017 general election, according to records, while Mr Souter’s last donation was in September 2014, before
Miss Sturgeon became leader. Of the party’s 59 General election candidates, 47 have launched public fundraising campaigns.
Speaking at a British-Irish council meeting in Dublin yesterday Miss Sturgeon reiterated her call for Scotland to become independent regardless of Brexit.
She told the meeting: ‘For me, fundamentally the answer for Scotland to the situation that Brexit has illustrated, which is that the future of Scotland is often in the hands of governments that we haven’t voted for, is to become independent.’
The Irish Government supports the Brexit deal proposed by Boris
Johnson, which it says protects the Good Friday Agreement.
But Miss Sturgeon claimed Scotland should operate on a level playing field with northern Ireland. She said: ‘We do not oppose the deal because of the arrangements to protect the Good Friday Agreement, we do have concerns about the competitive disadvantage for Scotland if northern Ireland has a special relationship with the EU.
‘But the answer is not to take away that solution for northern Ireland but to give the same kind of arrangement for Scotland, albeit we’re in very different circumstances.’
‘Nationalist grievance’ ‘Chip in just a few pounds’