NICOLA Sturgeon has urged Scots to make the Tories “feel the consequences” of partygate in May’s council elections.
Speaking during a visit to poverty charity Paul’s Parcels in Shotts, North Lanarkshire, the First Minister said she had encountered a “depth of anger” during the campaign over fines levied against Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his wife Carrie and Chancellor Rishi Sunak this week.
The trio were among more than 50 fixed-penalty notices issued by the Met Police as a result of lockdown-busting parties in and around Downing Street.
Sturgeon told the PA news agency: “We have a Prime Minister that is refusing to face any consequences for his own conduct.
READ MORE: Use council vote to make Tories ‘feel consequences’ of partygate, Nicola Sturgeon urges Scots
“The serial breaching of rules, the repeatedly lying to Parliament about that, the shamefully disingenuous excuses that are being put forward to avoid him taking any consequences – people are really angry about that.
“If the Conservatives are not prepared to face the consequences and abide by the long-standing rules that govern our democratic system, then the only thing people can do is express that anger and express that view at the ballot box – they have an opportunity… to do that and to make absolutely sure that the Conservatives don’t come out of this election in any doubt about the depth of people’s anger about this whole situation.”
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said on Friday that he believes partygate will not impact the Tory vote on May 5.
He told PA there is “no doubt that national issues do come up” with voters, but he claimed they are more concerned with local priorities such as potholes and education standards.
Sturgeon said Ross’s comments should make voters “all the more determined to ensure there is a consequence for the Conservatives”.
She added: “People want to make sure that anger is felt and there is a very clear choice on this issue – do the Conservatives come out of this election feeling that they have no consequences for this behaviour, or do they actually feel the brunt of people’s displeasure and anger?
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“I think they will definitely feel the latter.”
Sturgeon also pinpointed the cost-of-living crisis as the most important issue in this campaign, saying more needs to be done to support facilities like Paul’s Parcels, along with action to “tackle the cause of poverty, including food poverty”.
She added: “We have a responsibility to do much more to tackle the causes of this and deal with the consequences of it, but energy costs, the root causes of the inflationary pressures we’re seeing right now, tackling that are in the hands of Westminster right now.”
During a campaign stop in East Kilbride later on Saturday, the First Minister shaved a man’s beard in a barber shop.
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