Nicola Sturgeon: Labour has given the ‘proverbial two fingers’ to Scotland

Labour has “given the proverbial two fingers to Scotland” by failing to support a bid for independence, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The Scottish First Minister made the comment at a press conference at Bute House in Edinburgh on Thursday, where she unveiled the second in a series of papers making a fresh case for Scotland to leave the UK.

Ms Sturgeon was quizzed on the likelihood of coalitions being formed with Sir Keir Starmer’s party in Westminster.

Sir Keir has previously ruled out the idea, stating that he would “absolutely rule out” an alliance between the SNP and Labour in the event of a general election.

“There is no basis for an alliance with a party whose sole focus is on breaking up the United Kingdom, and therefore it’s not going to happen,” the Labour leader said on a visit north of the border last week.

In reference to a future Westminster ballot, he added: “No deal in, no deal out.”

The First Minister told journalists that while she understands “Labour doesn’t like the SNP”, her party has won every election held in Scotland in the last decade.

This, she said, makes the SNP the country’s “chosen government, Scotland’s party of choice”.

The First Minister said: “When you have Labour saying they will never work with the SNP or the SNP is somehow beyond the pale, whether or not they want to acknowledge that, what they are doing is just disrespecting Scotland’s democratic choices.

“In the pursuit of votes from the Tories in England, they’ve effectively given the proverbial two fingers to Scotland.”

Ms Sturgeon went on to suggest Labour’s message to the people of Scotland is that they “don’t really care about you, you’re just lobby fodder”.

She said: “I think Labour should understand, by now, that this is not a view that goes down particularly well in Scotland.

“So, that’s their choice, but they shouldn’t be surprised if that kind of attitude keeps delivering them the kind of election results that they’ve seen in the past 15 years or so.”