ONE of Nicola Sturgeon’s most savage critics within the Yes movement has topped a list of political websites accessed by Scottish Government staff.
Wings over Scotland, which backs independence but is increasingly hostile to the SNP leadership, was the most accessed from Government IT devices over the last six months.
Run by Scot Stuart Campbell from his adopted home of Bath, the site regularly attacks Ms Sturgeon’s leadership over slow progress towards independence.
It has also been supportive of Alex Salmond in his various battles with his predecessor.
In recent weeks, several SNP MPs have started to attack the site, either overtly or in code, by accusing it of sowing division in the Yes ranks.
READ MORE: Wings Over Scotland loses appeal over Kezia Dugdale defamation ruling
Alyn Smith this week said Wings Over Scotland was “a sad busted flush, well past the point of utility”, and attacked its “organised attempts to influence my party”.
The Stirling MP called Mr Campbell the “SNP’s answer to Vldemort”.
Perthshire MP Pete Wishart also said this week that bloggers were “one of the biggest threats to independence”.
However, a freedom of information request answered by the Scottish Government today about eight named sites, shows Wings over Scotland was accessed almost 1,100 times in the last six months by Ms Sturgeon's officials.
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Over the same period, between 27 April and 28 October, the SNP website was accessed 890 times from Government devices, according to official logs.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats were next with 706 hits, the pro-independence Bella Caledonia blog had 672, the Scottish Greens 568, the Scottish Tories 424, Scottish Labour 225 times and the ultra-nationalist Siol Nan Gaidheal, or Seed of the Gael, site had one hit.
The FoI request only asked for hits on these eight named websites.
Mr Campbell said the findings were “amusing” given the recent criticism from SNP MPs.
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