Nicola Sturgeon has given her backing to a receptionist who was sent home after refusing to wear heels at work.

The First Minister posted a photograph of her own stilettos on Twitter and wrote: "Wearing these as just heading to work - but no woman should every be told what they can or can't wear."

Temp Nicola Thorp turned up for work at PwC last December in flat shoes and was told she had to have a two to four inch heel.

When she refused and pointed out that her male colleagues were not required to do the same, she claims she was laughed at and and told to go home without pay.

The 27-year-old has now set up a petition - which has attracted almost 135,000 signatures - asking for it to be made illegal for companies to require women to wear heels for their jobs.

When Sturgeon was asked if she would sign the petition, she replied: "Yes - I wear high heels because I want to. No-one should be forced to!"

Ms Thorp argues that it is her fundamental right as a woman to choose whether to wear heels, and that she would not have been comfortable spending a nine-hour shift showing people around in the required footwear.

Outsourcing firm Portico, who hired the receptionist, said she had "signed the appearance guidelines" but it would now review guidelines.

They added that the shoes she wore that day did not adhere to a number of style requirements, such as the lack of embellishment, and that she was not just asked to change shoes because of the lack of heel.