Covid crisis...so Sturgeon ‘grandstands’ in Italy

NICOLA Sturgeon has been accused of ‘grandstanding in Italian newspapers about independence’ while Covid cases soar.

The First Minister was silent on her Government’s response and vaccination plan yesterday but found time to talk about her referendum plans for foreign media.

Writing in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, she said: ‘We are committed to adopting a legal and constitutional course to become an independent state. As an independent member of the European Union, Scotland could be a partner and a builder of bridges. More and more people in Scotland believe our aspirations can best be met by continuing to contribute to the common effort and solidarity the EU represents.

‘Due to Brexit, we can now only do so as a fully independent state.’ But Scottish Tory MSP John Lamont accused Ms Sturgeon of ‘spending her time cosying up to European newspaper editors’ rather than ‘producing a workable vaccine plan’.

He added: ‘Independence, referendums and strutting on the world stage is what makes Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP tick. Getting this pandemic under control and rolling out an antidote will always take a back seat.’

Anas Sarwar, Scottish Labour’s Brexit spokesman, said: ‘Nicola Sturgeon should be focusing on the worrying increase in Covid infection rates and the mismanagement of the SNP Government’s pandemic response.

‘Instead, she is grandstanding in Italian newspapers about Scottish independence.’

Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie said: ‘In the middle of a global pandemic with thousands dead and more in hospital, the First Minister’s instincts are to seek her lifelong goal rather than put the recovery first.’