NICOLA Sturgeon has slammed to the Tories for their “utter humiliation” at polls after Ruth Davidson’s party made their EU election campaign “all about independence”.
The Conservatives' vote share in the European Parliament vote fell to just 11.6% in Scotland, prompting fierce criticism from the First Minister.
The Tories still have one MEP but the SNP gained another one amid a surge in support.
Sturgeon said that Tory appeals for voters to use the election as a method to oppose a second independence referendum had failed.
She also hit back at claims from Unionists that because the SNP appealed to No voters, they cannot use the European election result as a basis from which to launch another independence vote.
READ MORE: Desperate Unionists using twisted logic to defend election result
Speaking to Bauer Media’s Alan Smith, Sturgeon said: “I set out before we even knew there was going to be a European election my intentions around bringing forward a bill to put in place the rules of a referendum and giving people in Scotland the choice later in this term of parliament.
“I think every interview I did during the European elections I reiterated those intentions.
“Of course I also said to anybody in Scotland who opposed Brexit to make sure that we sent a unified message and that’s what many people chose to do.
“But actually, it was the Tories that tried to make this election all about independence. They said they wanted people to send me a message that they didn’t want another independence referendum and the Tories struggled to poll 12%.
“I mean that is an utter humiliation for a party and a Tory leader who have nothing positive to say.”
Speaking with @NicolaSturgeon about the European Election result, what it says about independence and responding to claims of misleading unionist voters in the run up to the election pic.twitter.com/a49jRMjXhQ
— Alan Smith (@Political_AlanS) May 28, 2019
The First Minister also said the election underline that Scotland and the rUK are on “very different political paths”.
“The message from these elections in Scotland is that we reject Brexit. We rejected it in the referendum and we rejected it again in these elections,” she said.
“And I set out prior to this election campaign my intentions to give people in Scotland a choice over independence because what the elections demonstrate and reiterate, if you like, is that Scotland and the rest of the UK are on very different political paths.
“If we don’t want to have a future imposed upon us as a country then we must have the opportunity to choose our own future and that’s the choice I want to give people in Scotland later in this term in parliament.”
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