Liz Truss will be a “disaster” as Prime Minister if she governs as she has campaigned, Nicola Sturgeon has declared. The Scottish First Minister said she hopes for a “constructive” relationship with Truss who is the frontrunner to become Prime Minister on Monday, even though the two have traded insults throughout the Tory leadership contest.
Sturgeon told Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “It’s obviously the case that Liz Truss and I don’t agree on very much politically, but I’m a firm believer in giving anybody who’s coming into the office of Prime Minister a chance to prove themselves, and I will certainly do my best to build a constructive working relationship with her.”
But she added: “If she governs how she has campaigned over the summer, she will be a disaster – not just for Scotland but for all of the UK – but let’s hope that’s not the case, because this is a very serious time for the UK and it needs very serious and very purposeful leadership.”
During the Tory hustings meetings Truss described Sturgeon as an “attention seeker” and completely ruled out the SNP leader’s demands for a second independence referendum next year. Sturgeon accused her on Sunday of campaigning on the “niche priorities” of Tory members, such as tax cuts, but said she wants to have a good relationship with the next occupant of Number 10.
The SNP leader said: “The obsessions of a tiny, tiny number of Conservative Party members are not the right priorities for the country,” she said. It won’t take very long to see whether she is going to govern as a Prime Minister with a focus on the real priorities of the country or not.
"I think that will become very obvious and evident perhaps within the first 24 to 48 hours of her premiership. Let’s hope she chooses the responsible course and stops pandering to the margins in the Conservative Party.”
Sturgeon also said she is “profoundly concerned” that changes made during an emergency UK Budget planned by Liz Truss could impact spending in Scotland.
She said: “Right now, we’re working within budgets that are effectively fixed and finite, they are not rising in line with inflation, but the inflationary pressures are bearing down on our budget as they are with the household budgets of families across the country.”
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.
