Anger as SNP student leader dubs Cameron ‘English **** ’
Outrage as Nationalist calls PM an ‘English t**t’ in interview
AN SNP student leader has provoked a racism storm by publicly branding David Cameron an ‘English t**t’.
The president of Edinburgh University’s SNP branch, Roisin McLaren, declared in an interview in a Left-wing newspaper that she didn’t pay attention to Mr Cameron’s plea to vote to save the Union because ‘it was an English t**t telling us all what to do’.
Referring to the Prime Minister’s passionate defence of the UK at the Olympic velodrome in February, the 19-year-old said: ‘It was a toff Tory politician, who nobody here likes or voted for, saying, ‘ Oh, England, please tell Scotland to stay in the UK because we love you so much. F*** off! If he’d had any sense, he would have kept his gob shut.’
Her comments were branded ‘anti-English’ and sparked claims that Alex Salmond has been responsible for stoking ‘resentment’ within his party’s grassroots.
However, Miss McLaren last night stepped back from her outburst. She said: ‘I accept that my comment was open to misinterpretation and I apologise for any offence that may have been caused.’
A spokesman for the SNP added: ‘The referendum debate must be a positive one and supporters on both sides must do all they can to raise the level of debate. Personal language of this nature is not acceptable – this has been acknowledged and an apology has been given.’
Miss McLaren, from West Calder, West Lothian, has been photographed campaigning with both Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond during the recent Aberdeen Donside by-election. She is president of the Edinburgh University Scottish Nationalists Association, which is a branch of the SNP’s student wing, the Federation of Student Nationalists.
It is just the latest racism row to embroil the pro-independence campaign, after UKIP leader Nigel Farage claimed last year that he had suffered ‘anti-English’ abuse during a visit to Edinburgh. David Coburn, UKIP’s lead candidate in Scotland and a close ally of Mr Farage, said: ‘It sounds like racism to me. But as far as I’m concerned the SNP is not the Scottish National Party, it’s the antiEnglish party.
‘This is Salmond’s whole project
Tell Scotland we love you? F*** ooff. If he’d had any sense, he would have kept his gob shut
and he did it with students by not allowing English students to study for free when Scottish and EU students can. He did not have to do that but he did it to stoke resentment in Scotland and also English resentment of Scots.
‘It is clear some of these Scottish Nationalists are racist.’
SNP supporters have repeatedly been accused of anti-English abuse when posting anonymous comments online – but it is rare for a party member to so openly declare such sentiments publicly.
In 2012, Alex Salmond was accused of being anti-English when he told Westminster politicians to ‘stay home and think again’.
Former SNP leader Gordon Wilson has previously branded England as a ‘parasite’ nation that is ‘feeding off the life-blood’ of Scotland. In response to Miss McLaren’s comments yesterday, a spokesman for the pro-Union Better Together campaign said: ‘So much for the welcoming and friendly Nationalism Alex Salmond goes on about so much.
‘This kind of anti-English abuse from the SNP is unacceptable and should not be tolerated.’
A Scottish Labour spokesman said: ‘These comments are puerile and offensive and have no place in the grown-up debate people expect us to have about our country’s future. We must show tolerance and respect on all sides of the debate.
‘Ms McLaren should reflect on whether she is an appropriate person to speak for young Nationalists, given her views.’