The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Boris as PM ‘disastrous’ for Conservatives: FM
Choosing Boris Johnson as prime minister would be disastrous for the Tories, particularly in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
The first minister said that Mr Johnson was seen as one of the principle people responsible for the Brexit “mess” by those living north of the border, where 62% voted Remain in the 2016 EU referendum.
She said the case for independence is “stronger than it has ever been” and said she is confident the SNP would win a referendum on the issue.
In an interview on Sophy Ridge On Sunday on Sky News, Ms Sturgeon was asked her views on the impact choosing Mr Johnson as prime minister would have on the Conservatives in Scotland.
She said: “I think he would be devastating, disastrous for the Conservatives UK-wide but particularly in Scotland. He is seen in Scotland I think as one of the principle politicians who are responsible for the mess that we are in over Brexit, the guy who misled people in the EU referendum campaign and the guy who now says he is prepared to take the UK out of the EU without a deal, for most people in Scotland that is a horrifying prospect.”
Ms Sturgeon also said that Mr Johnson has made “overtly racist” comments, mentioning the time when he compared Burka-wearing Muslim women to “letterboxes”.
It comes as a new poll suggests that more than half of Scottish voters would vote to leave the UK if Boris Johnson were to become prime minister.
Ms Sturgeon also called on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to “get off the fence” on the issue of a second EU referendum and urged the party to decide which side they are on.
She said: “We’ve been trying to work with Jeremy Corbyn to get him behind a second EU referendum, thus far that hasn’t happened. If we have a no-deal Brexit or a catastrophic Brexit all of the damage that is done from that, Jeremy Corbyn if he doesn’t get off the fence on a second EU referendum will bear almost as much responsibility for that as Theresa May and the Conservatives.”