NICOLA Sturgeon has condemned a senior SNP councillor for claiming Scotland had been “under the heel of foreign influence for 300 years”.

Dave Doogan, deputy leader of SNP-run Perth & Kinross, and a former caseworker for Perthshire MSP John Swinney, also blamed the “redcoats” for “an island of coffins”, an allusion to the British Army.

Ms Sturgeon recently criticised Labour London Mayor Sadiq Khan for comparing Scottish nationalism with racism, calling his remarks “spectacularly ill-judged” and “an insult”.

At First Minister’s Questions, Tory Murdo Fraser asked her reaction to Mr Doogan’s remarks in last week’s Perthshire Advertiser.

Mr Doogan reportedly told councillors: “Let us not reflect on concerns that we have been under the heel of foreign influence and power for 300 years.

“The island of Britain is no longer subject to the actions of quislings who may seek to see smaller cultures extinguished on an island of coffins by redcoats”.

Mr Fraser continued: “Given the First Minister’s comments about Sadiq Khan’s language, does she believe Cllr Doogan’s comments were appropriate, or does she apply one standard to members of other parties and a different standard to own?”

Ms Sturgeon replied: “I apply the same standards to everybody. Let me be clear: no matter who they come from, I condemn any comments or language that are in any way, shape or form racist or anti-English.

"That is not what my party or the movement that I am part of is for or represents. I will practise the values I hold dear, and I expect everybody to do likewise.”