NICOLA Sturgeon has reacted angrily to claims she is “in denial” about the impact of the general election result on her plans for a second independence referendum.
In a series of breakfast time Tweets, the First Minister hit out at the media after it was correctly reported that she failed to discuss the subject with the Scottish Cabinet on Tuesday.
She said she would “not be dictated to by demands for quick headlines”.
Despite Ms Sturgeon losing a third of her MPs amid a Unionist backlash against a second referendum, her spokesman revealed she had not discussed it with ministers.
However she did discuss Brexit in light of Theresa May losing her majority in the election.
It led to opposition claims she was "in denial" and failing to face reality about the voters' verdict on her core policy.
It was later reported that Ms Sturgeon had effectively snubbed her cabinet by discussing a second referendum with a tiny cabal of closer advisers instead.
An SNP-supporting tabloid claimed the First Minister had cloistered herself with deputy First Minister John Swinney, Brexit minister Michael Russell, and special adviser Ewan Crawford.
That would mean finance and constitution secretary Derek Mackay, who helped run the SNP’s election campaign, had been shut out of top-level discussions on the constitution.
Ms Sturgeon is already facing criticism that she runs the SNP and her government by clique, taking advice from a handful of people, including her husband, SNP boss Peter Murrell.
Former SNP Justice Secretary Kenneth MacAskill said at the weekend she should replace Mr Murrell within a year as the pair’s marriage meant a lack of objectivity at the top of the party.
Shortly after 8am on Wednesday, Ms Sturgeon took to Twitter to attack the media.
She wrote: “Most of media speculation about #ScotRef is nonsense. I'll set out way forward in due course after talking to people across @theSNP.
“I'll take decisions in best interests, not just of @theSNP, but of Scotland...and not be dictated to by demands for quick headlines!
“In meantime, @scotgov will focus on trying to influence Brexit talks - a Tory led hard Brexit is simply not acceptable post #GE2017.”
The SNP lost 21 of the 56 seats it won in 2015 and slumped from 50 to 37 per cent of the vote last week in the worst electoral reverse for an SNP leader since 1979.
The party’s campaign, which initially discounted Jeremy Corbyn and ended claiming the SNP was more in touch with him than Scottish Labour candidates, has been criticised as a mess.
Ms Sturgeon has admitted her plan for a second referendum once Brexit terms are known was “undoubtedly” a factor in the SNP’s losses, and said she will “reflect carefully” on what to do on the subject, but has refused to rule out pressing ahead with one regardless.
After the election, the SNP quietly abandoned its dedicated £1m fundraising drive for a second referendum, removing the donations page from its ref.scot website.
The appeal had raised less than half its target and still had 10 of its 100 days left to run.
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