Sturgeon slams Truss as 'another spin on Tory misery-go-round'

Nicola Sturgeon vows to hold Scottish independence referendum on 19 October NEXT YEAR – if courts allow her – as First Minister claims breaking up UK is ‘essential’ to escape ‘Tory misery-go-round’

• SNP leader reiterates vow – first made in June – to hold referendum next year 
• Nicola Sturgeon uses SNP conference speech to say independence is ‘essential’
• First Minister also launches fresh attacks on Tories and Liz Truss’s Government 
• Supreme Court to consider this week if Scottish Government can hold new vote

Nicola Sturgeon today slammed Liz Truss’s UK Government as ‘another spin on the Tory misery-go-round’ as she rallied SNP members for her fresh independence push.

The Scottish First Minister, delivering her keynote speech at the SNP’s conference in Aberdeen, hit out at the Prime Minister’s ‘unconscionable’ economic agenda.

She also blasted ‘aggressive Unionism’ from Westminster as she insisted that independence was ‘essential’ for Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon’s fresh tirade against the Conservatives came after the SNP leader  suffered a furious backlash at the weekend for stating: ‘I detest the Tories.’

But, despite the row, the First Minister did not shy away from further attacks on Ms Truss’s party in her conference speech this afternoon.

She mocked the ‘chaos and catastrophe’ coming from Westminster, while she also took a swipe at Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour for ‘aiding and abetting’ the Tories.

Ms Sturgeon used her conference address to reiterate her vow, which she first made in June, to hold another Scottish independence referendum on 19th October next year.

But this is only if the UK Supreme Court rules her Scottish Government can hold a vote without permission from Westminster.

If judges – as expected – rule against Ms Sturgeon, the First Minister repeated that she would instead ‘put our case for independence to the people in an election’ as she pledged to ‘never ever give up on Scottish democracy’.

Nicola Sturgeon used her SNP conference address to reiterate her vow to hold another Scottish independence referendum on 19th October next year

The SNP leader blasted ‘aggressive Unionism’ from Westminster as she insisted that independence was ‘essential’ for Scotland

Noting how this was her first in-person conference leader’s speech since 2019, Ms Sturgeon joked how the ‘only downside’ of not repeating her Covid-enforced Zoom speeches of recent years was ‘having to trade my slippers for these heels’.

‘We last gathered together as a party in October 2019. Back then, the Tories had just elected a new leader,’ the SNP leader said.

‘Westminster was in meltdown. A new Prime Minister was driving through a disastrous policy agenda, despite warnings of its dire economic impact.

‘And here we are, all over again. Another spin on the Tory misery-go-round. 

‘This time the carousel is speeding up. It took the Tories three years to realise Boris Johnson was a disaster. With Liz Truss, it took them just three weeks.’

Ms Sturgeon said it was ‘unconscionable’ that Ms Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng had sought to fund the tax cuts in their recent mini-Budget through ‘borrowing to be repaid by eye-watering austerity cuts and a raid on the incomes of the poorest’. 

‘The Prime Minister’s justification is that she is going for growth,’ the First Minister added.

‘Let me tell you what kind of growth that will be. Growth in the gap between rich and poor.

‘Growth in the rates of poverty. Growth in the pressure on our NHS and other public services.

‘And, without any doubt, growth in the deep disgust the public feel for all of it.’

Ms Sturgeon insisted that Scottish independence was ‘the best way’ to protect the ‘partnership’ between UK nations.

She claimed that an ‘aggressive Unionism’ was currently ‘undermining that partnership’.

‘Westminster’s denial of Scottish democracy; full frontal attacks on devolution; a basic lack of respect,’ she added.

‘If there is tension, that is what is causing it.

‘It is Scottish independence – a new partnership of the isles – that can renew the whole idea of our nations working together for the common good.’

Telling SNP members in Aberdeen they were the ‘independence generation’, Ms Sturgeon said that breaking away from the UK was ‘essential’ – adding this was the case ‘probably more than at any time in my life’.

‘It is essential to escape Westminster control and mismanagement,’ she said.

‘Essential to get the governments we vote for. To properly protect our NHS.

‘To build a new partnership of equals with the other nations on these islands.

‘It is essential if we want to be back in the European Union.

‘And it is essential if we want the people who live here to determine the future of this extraordinary country.’

Ms Sturgeon’s SNP have held their annual conference in Aberdeen over the past three days, where members have been pushing for concrete progress on independence 

Polls have suggested the Tories are on track to lose all their MPs in Scotland at the next general election

Ms Sturgeon’s keynote speech at the SNP’s conference comes at the start of a critical week of her push for another Scottish independence referendum.

The UK Supreme Court is tomorrow due to start hearing legal arguments over whether Ms Sturgeon’s Scottish Government has the power to trigger another referendum without permission from Westminster.

Experts predict the First Minister is set to lose the case, throwing her separatist drive into disarray.

The SNP leader wants to hold a vote on October 19 next year, despite agreeing that the last contest should be ‘once in a generation’.

Ms Sturgeon’s party have held their annual conference in Aberdeen over the past three days.

SNP members have been pushing for concrete progress on independence despite polls suggesting Scots do not view it as a priority and a narrow majority still support the Union.

Ms Sturgeon was rebuked by ministers and MPs for inflammatory language yesterday after she spewed vitriol at the Tories during an interview in which she hinted at a possible election tie-up with Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer.

The SNP leader insisted it is ‘not difficult to answer’ the question of whether Sir Keir or Liz Truss should be in No10, saying: ‘I detest the Tories and everything they stand for.’

The comments were condemned as a disrespectful slur on a quarter of the Scottish electorate who voted Conservative at the last general election.

They also fuelled alarm that Labour and the SNP are planning on doing a pact to get into power if there is a hung Parliament.

Ms Sturgeon admitted that her push for another independence referendum could be blocked by the UK Supreme Court this week.

Asked if a referendum ‘will’ definitely happen on her favoured date of October 19 next year, Ms Sturgeon pointedly only replied she is ‘confident that can happen’.

She has said that if the Supreme Court deny the case the SNP will fight the next general election on a single issue of splitting from the UK.

A ruling could take around two months.

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