Nicola Sturgeon says she remains “100% committed” to tackling the Covid-19 pandemic and its financial repercussions amid growing support for Scottish independence.
The First Minister was appearing on the BBC when asked if she was “hitting the pause button” on constitutional arguments.
Several of the most recent polls have shown a majority of Scots in favour of independence, with Sturgeon’s performance during the pandemic also polling well.
And while she is putting all her focus on the virus she says the continuing rise in support for independence could have a “lesson in it” for her own party.
She said: “At no point during this have I weighed my decisions on political basis or a constitutional basis but… at a time when I and the SNP have not been talking about independence all the time but getting on with the job of autonomous decision making and trying to get the right decisions to get the county through a crisis, support for independence appears to have increased so maybe there is a bit of a lesson in there about show not tell.”
The First Minister also rejected comments from Chancellor Rishi Sunak that Covid-19 financial support was only possible because “we are a United Kingdom”.
She said: “These kind of nonsense points frankly I think are a bit regrettable and ridiculous particularly given the severity of what we face.”
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