Liz Truss says "best to ignore" attention-seeking Nicola Sturgeon

[BerylBird]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-62385757

I'm not Scottish and I don't live in Scotland, but this statement by Liz Truss has made me seethe with rage. AIBU?

I know Nicola Sturgeon is not universally popular in Scotland but, by all measures, the SNP have a sizeable majority in Scotland and like it or not, she is the elected leader of the country, chosen by its population.

How can someone who is vying to be PM of the UK make such a comment as this without alienating, by definition, a majority of Scots? It's a terrible footing to start out on.

It just shows the low regard that she / the Tories have for the "other" nations of the UK outside of England / Westminster. If ever there was a great advert for independence for Scotland (or Wales, or reunification of Ireland), surely this is it?

Oh no another reason for Nicoliar to react with furious indignation. I suppose it gives her a break from the cover ups and sweeping fuck ups under the carpet.

Calling someone a charlatan is one thing. I think that's on a par with Liz Truss describing Sturgeon as an attention seeker tbh. Not terribly professional but within the bounds of normal political mudslinging discourse. And probably true in both cases!

Stating that she will ignore the First Minister of Scotland is different though. She has no right to ignore a democratically elected leader. If she becomes our Prime Minister, then she will have a duty to engage with Sturgeon whatever she thinks of her. They don't have to like or admire each other, and they can be as critical of each other as they wish, but they do absolutely need to work with each other in order to do their respective jobs properly.

It is anti-democratic to suggest otherwise. And yes, of course Liz Truss is just spouting bullshit and she knows that she would have no choice but to work with Sturgeon if she became PM, but then, why say it? It's irresponsible and damaging to democracy to pretend that she could ignore an elected leader of one of the UK nations if she didn't like what they were saying.

It's the only thing Truss has said that I agree with.

On the issue of the UK Constitution, the PM has every legal Constitutional right to ignore Nicola Sturgeon regarding IndyRef2.

The powers of the First Minister does NOT extend to the Constitution nor does the power of the devolved administrations in Stormont, Cardiff Bay or Holyrood.

Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP led Government have been trying act outwith the powers they actually have as set out in legislation. In doing so, they've been attempting to make Holyrood act outwith its own powers too.

It's ultra vires.

The people of Scotland voted for a Parliament with limited powers and with the Constitution out of bounds to it. The SNP have about 45% of the vote share, so do not have the numbers to win IndyRef2, let alone hold one.

In the context of the constitution, Nicola Sturgeon can be ignored as she doesn't have the support of a majority of the electorate for IndyRef2 nor does she have the power under constitutional law to force through an unwanted IndyRef2.

The PM will, naturally, listen to each FM based on the assistance they might need with their own devolved responsibilities. This is only right and proper.

It's making me dizzy.

But she said "She's best ignored." She didn't say she's best ignored on certain things, on IndyRef2, just that she's best ignored. She shouldn't ignore her, that is inappropriate and undemocratic.

I have a theory. She has got this far in the campaign because "they" know she will be popular among party members and likely win (see the Thatcher references). Once in she'll be very compliant (see the u-turn today as soon as the party objected) and will do the will of the ruling elite

If she gets to be PM it will be like May all over again, bullied by the ERG mob.

I don't like Sunak but I feel like he would have a little more independence.

If we look at the full set of words Liz Truss used, we find that the context was the UK Constitution which is a reserved power:

"I really believe we are a family, and we're better together," she said.

"I think the best thing to do with Nicola Sturgeon is ignore her. She's an attention seeker, that's what she is."

In that context, ignoring Sturgeon would be perfectly legal in constitutional law for the reasons I explained previously.

There is no suggestion from Truss she'll ignore Sturgeon on matters within Sturgeon's power under legislation.

It's bizarre how in Westminster elections parliamentary majority is invariably cited as mandate, yet in Scotland, the yardstick is vote share.

The people of Scotland voted for a Parliament with limited powers and with the Constitution out of bounds to it. The SNP have about 45% of the vote share, so do not have the numbers to win IndyRef2, let alone hold one.

In 2012, at the time of the Edinburgh Agreement, preference for Scots Indi was polling between 32-38%. SNP also polled 47.7% of the constituency vote in the last SGE, with the pro-indi Green party polling 1.29%, a combined 48.99% of the votes cast. On the Regional side, SNP vote was 40.34%, Green 8.12%, a combined 48.46%. Add in Alba and that total is 50.12% of the Regional vote.

Regardless, the question of numbers is largely immaterial in any case, given that the SNP/Greens form the SG thanks to parliamentary numbers, and therefore are in the position whereby they can act on manifesto pledges. Perhaps you'd rather elections were run on the basis that if a party wins they should have to implement the defeated parties' policies instead?

As for your nonsensical claim that the SNP are attempting to act outwith their competence; the fact that they are currently in the middle of a Supreme Court case precisely to establish exactly where competence begins and ends would rather seem to contradict that.

How do you know 50 % of Scots agree with her. Whether you like Nicola Sturgeon or not she is the elected leader of the Scottish government.. To say you would ignore someone who holds that position is hugely insulting to all the people of Scotland, and that would be the case whatever party the leader was from. It suggests that the Westminster parliament lords it over us and we are a colony rather than a separate nation. Many people may hate Nicola but be furious at these comments. You are interpreting her words very simplistically if you believe otherwise .
And any primeminister is supposed to be stateman like in their interactions. This means being diplomatic in public situations. These comments have infuriated millions of people. What I’d she insults other countries/ leaders again in this ignorant way. She is a liability to this country

She will have focus-grouped this comment to make sure it plays well with the ‘base’ - the 180.000 - English, wealthy, white, male, complacent and brexit supporting - aged 58+.

What it shows is just how appallingly low grade the Conservative party membership is as a group.

Incredibly poor choice of words, particularly from a PM candidate. I’d have said something like “I’m disappointed by the amount of government time and energy Ms Sturgeon spends campaigning to overturn Scotland’s 2014 vote to remain in the Union. Democracy is about respecting the result of a vote, not holding the vote over and over every few years until you get the result you personally want. We have all been through years of stressful changes: Brexit, then the pandemic, and now war is in Europe. I believe the Scottish people deserve a period of calm, unity, and sustained economic growth, not deliberately inflicting more disruption and division in a way that can only impoverish our nation and play into the hands of those who seek to weaken our great country.”

I wanna be her speechwriter - she certainly needs one.

Democracy is about respecting the result of a vote

If only this also applied to the 'winning' side in the aftermath of referenda.

Sturgeon is an attention seeking and has failed miserably in all sorts of areas but it was a stupid thing of Truss to say. Shows a concerning lack of judgement and she's not even in office yet

This is a good point.

Truss is The Foreign Secretary. She’s the boss of our diplomats. She’s literally supposed to be the best diplomat we have.

Not very diplomatic to randomly insult one of your colleagues that you’ll be working with closely, whether in your current role or a different one.

Why not just… Say something else? It’s really easy to not insult someone, I do it all the time.

And I get that she was “playing to the gallery” of the Tory party voters. But she is the British Foreign Secretary. She should be mindful that everything she says is analysed around the world. She should be used to that and to choosing words that appeal to both Tory voters and the rest of the country.

Worrying.

Well, it does apply.

Respecting the result of a vote doesn't mean respecting the people who voted for that result or respecting their motives etc. Nor does it preclude arguing for another referendum and a different vote in the future. You can respect the result of a democratic vote while simultaneously believing that it's a catastrophic decision and that the people who voted for it were ignorant fuckwits.

Respecting the result simply means that you accept the reality that people have voted for, no matter how awful that reality might be. Not respecting it would involve ignoring it, denying it or pretending it never happened - a bit like Trump tried to do in the US.

Truss has said that the best thing to do with Nicola Sturgeon is to ignore her. I think that's fundamentally anti-democratic.

Exactly this!

As a Scot I agree with what she said. I wish nippy aka Nicola sturgeon would shut up about the referendum and help solve the energy cost crisis and the failing “curriculum of excellence”

There's no suggestion she won't. She didn't say, "I think the thing to do with Nicole Sturgeon is ignore her on this issue." So it's open isn't it.

Of course with Liz Truss what she meant yesterday might not be what she means today.

'Incredibly poor choice of words, particularly from a PM candidate. I’d have said something like “I’m disappointed by the amount of government time and energy Ms Sturgeon spends campaigning to overturn Scotland’s 2014 vote to remain in the Union.'

Exactly. She missed an ideal opportunity to put Strurgeon in her place instead she's scored an own goal.

Me too!

As a Scot I agree. NS is attention seeking.

And it's fine for you to say that. For someone aiming to be the British PM it isn't appropriate at all. If I was Scottish I'd be furious and as someone from N.Ireland I don't like that "what we'll do for Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland" as if we are some poor relation to be thrown scraps to keep us quiet.

English, live in Scotland and furious at this. If Scottish people (and residents) dislike Nicola and consider her attention seeking they're perfectly within their rights to do so, but the sheer arrogance and rudeness of a country's leader being dismissed in this way by another potential leader is infuriating and so unprofessional. Just shows how little of a shit Westminster gives about Scotland. Not that I'm impressed with their treatment of my native Yorkshire either.

She's the FM of Scotland. Elected on a mandate of indyref2 no matter how much the unions stamp their little immature feet.

This, by definition, involves a degree of "attention seeking".