THERE’S plenty of grounds to criticise both Nicola Sturgeon and her government. As a moderate independence supporter, I spend much of my time doing just that - primarily as I believe the only true way to achieve a successful Yes campaign is through good government proving to undecided and soft No voters that Scotland can competently go it alone. Though increasingly, over recent years, I’ve found the SNP to be shambolic at best, and duplicitous at worst, when it comes to the exercise of power.

However, there’s one issue upon which I cannot find fault with Sturgeon - and nor should any member of the Scottish public, regardless of political affiliation or their constitutional position, for she’s indisputably correct: the Tory Party in London is an utter affront to democracy, specifically the exercise of democracy in Scotland.

Yesterday, as we endured yet more of the blend of horror movie and twisted Big Brother-style beauty pageant that’s the Tory leadership contest, Sturgeon called out the Conservatives for their assault on democracy.

Let’s even park the issue of the Tories denying the Scottish government’s mandated right to another referendum - for how can a democracy function if a majority of Holyrood MSPs want to pursue a specific policy yet the Westminster government denies the will of the electorate? And those claims of ‘it was once in a generation’ no longer stand. The Scottish people were told if we voted No in 2014 then we’d stay in Europe. England voted to leave and we got dragged out along side - that material change is the primary moral justification for another referendum.

 

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