Sturgeon: It's ‘daft’ to say Independence doesn’t matter to me

Nicola Sturgeon has said it is “daft” of critics to say Scottish independence does not matter to her.

The First Minister has been attacked by some in her own party and the wider Yes movement for not moving fast enough on seeing Scotland out of the UK.

But she has defended her approach, claiming support must be gained around the country before Scotland can take full control.

While on Clyde 2’s leaders phone in, the First Minister was asked about a future alliance with Alex Salmond, where she reiterated her opposition to working with her predecessor.

“I don’t agree with the approach he’s taking to try to win independence, because I think you’ve got to build support, you’ve got to get a majority, have a process where people can vote for it,” she said.

“All this talk of trying to bulldoze our way there, almost in spite of or regardless of public opinion, I think risks putting the undecideds off as opposed to what we really need to do to win independence, which is to bring undecideds towards us.”

The First Minister has repeatedly called for another referendum to be held, and even said she thinks it may have happened in the last term of parliament if not for the Covid-19 pandemic, but all such requests have been rebuffed by Downing Street, first under Theresa May as well as the current government headed by Boris Johnson.

Commenting on the criticism of her approach to independence, she said: “That’s daft.

“I’ve campaigned for independence since I was 16 years old, I’ve dedicated my adult life to the campaign and the cause of independence and for people to say it doesn’t matter to me is silly.

“Particularly for people who know how much it matters to me.

“Whatever other difficulties I have with Alex I would never suggest he hasn’t campaigned for and wanted independence.”

She added: “This is about how you best get it – you can’t force it, you can’t wave a magic wand and bring it about and we’re not going to get there with people who support independence having an argument with themselves about who supports it most.”