Spokesman for First Minister brands rivals as Trumpesque by opposing referendum
Opposition politicians are denying the result of the 2021 Holyrood election by opposing a Scottish independence referendum, the First Minister’s spokesperson has said. Labelling Douglas Ross, Anas Sarwar and Alex-cole Hamilton as behaving like Donald Trump who claimed – without basis – that the 2020 US presidential election was stolen, the spokesperson said the major opposition parties were “trying to pretend they won an election they lost”. Pressed on what exactly the opposition had done beyond “bumping their gums” to deny the election result, the spokesperson said “they are trying to deny the reality of an election result in a free and fair democracy”. Asked to clarify whether he was saying they were “denying the result of 2021”, he said: “Well, they appear to be”.
The comments continue an escalation in rhetoric over Scottish independence from the SNP after the Scottish Government’s defeat at the Supreme Court on Wednesday. Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland was now a “prisoner of Westminster”.
Critics said the SNP has resorted to dialling up the “inflammatory rhetoric” and that the response to the defeat was becoming “embarrassing”. Scottish Labour demanded an apology for the “absurd” comments.
In response to questions about opposition criticism of rhetoric, the spokesperson said: “The only people behaving like Donald Trump are the unionist politicians who are trying to pretend they won an election they lost.”
He added: “There is a clear denial of democracy at play. They are throwing around the Trump jibes, I’m merely saying that the only people behaving like Donald Trump are people who try and deny the reality of election results.
"They are trying to deny the reality of an election result in a free and fair democracy.”
The spokesperson labelled criticism of the “denial of democracy” rhetoric from the First Minister as “ludicrous” and that opposition were standing in the way of a referendum by “everything they say about it”.
He also criticised the suggestion from opposition parties that votes for the SNP at the Holyrood 2021 election were not in favour of an independence referendum and were instead about Ms Sturgeon’s leadership during Covid-19.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats said: “This is turning into an embarrassing spectacle for the Nationalists.
"It sounds like the First Minister's spokesperson needs a camomile tea and a lie down. Perhaps after that he could advise his boss to get back to work on ending the schools strikes and tackling long waits for NHS treatments."
A Scottish Labour spokesperson demanded an apology. They said: “This is a truly stupid statement. No credible person could think the First Minister sincerely believes this.
"Her spokesperson should retract these absurd comments and apologise.”
Donald Cameron, the Scottish Tory constitution spokesperson, said: “These wild comments are a reminder of what we could expect if there was another referendum – and they explain why so many Scots dread another ugly, divisive campaign that would split families and friends again.”