A FORMER top Tory advisor has been accused of making “basic mistakes” after he published an opinion piece which appears to include inaccurate quotes from the First Minister.

In the article, Gerald Warner states that the Scottish public are “about to award a further four years of governance” to the SNP.

The Holyrood parliamentary period is five years, having been extended by a 2020 Act of the Scottish Parliament.

A former special advisor to Scottish Secretary Michael Forsyth (below), Warner also attacks the SNP’s record on education in his article published today by Reaction.life, a London-based website chaired by Tory peer Robert Gascoyne-Cecin.

The National: Michael Forsyth, Thatcher’s man in Scotland. Photograph: Getty

Warner, who was described as an “unashamed right-winger” in the 1995 Herald article on his appointment, penned the article entitled "The Brigadoon fantasy election – voters in a trance set to reward SNP for wrecking Scotland".

In the piece, he accuses the SNP of showing “contempt for the voters’ intelligence” by mentioning an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) review in their manifesto, despite that review having not yet been published.

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The former Sunday Times columnist claims this report is a “state secret” which “Nicola Sturgeon has refused to publish … until after the election – an indication of its damning contents”.

Warner adds: “What other political party in the Western world would dare to introduce into its manifesto a pledge relating to a report it has suppressed?”

However, the story Warner is referring to was resoundingly debunked earlier this year, with Green MSP Ross Greer accusing Unionist opponents of “deliberate misinformation”.

The National: Jamie Greene

Labour MSP Daniel Johnson, Tory MSP Jamie Greene (above), and Scottish LibDem leader Willie Rennie all suggested the Scottish Government was intentionally hiding the findings of the report.

However, Greer shared an email he had received from the OECD on Twitter proving that it was that organisation, and not the Edinburgh government, which had ruled the review should not yet be published.

The Green MSP wrote: “The Tories and LibDems don't give a damn about Scottish education. They're spreading deliberate misinformation. Why? To undermine devolution.

“Here's the correspondence confirming that the OECD, not the Scottish Govt, ruled the unfinished draft report on CfE can't be published.”

In his article published today, Warner also suggests that an independent Scotland may fail to join the European Union due to a Spanish veto and claims that “Sturgeon hubristically claimed she would win a supermajority in today’s election”, something The National was unable to find that she had ever said.

It is Alex Salmond’s Alba Party who are pursuing an independence “supermajority”. Although Salmond has not defined this number, it normally refers to a two-thirds majority, which would be around 86 seats in Holyrood.

Nevertheless, Warner goes on: “Sturgeon is now trying to distort expectations by referring to her 60-odd putative seats, plus a possible eight or nine for the Greens, as a ‘supermajority for independence’.”

As far as The National can tell, Nicola Sturgeon has not said this.

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He claims that it is SNP voters and the Scottish parliament which are “totally divorced from reality”.

He finishes: “Whatever constitutional demands Nicola Sturgeon may make, the answer is no.”

Academic and National columnist Gerry Hassan shared Warner’s article on Twitter, commenting: “The ridiculous take of Gerald Warner on Scotland's election with basic mistakes. Thinks Nicola Sturgeon wants a 'supermajority' & the Scot Parl's term lasts 4 years.

“Pours personal abuse on Patrick Harvie which shows the Greens are doing something right.”

Warner calls Harvie “leader of the Green loons” and claims he “is the biggest buffoon in the Scottish parliament”.

Warner heaps praise on Boris Johnson and the English electorate, which he says are in a mood of “hard-headed realism, focused on material recovery”.

He adds: “[In England] the Conservatives are heavily in the lead because, having got Brexit done, Boris went on to preside over a world-leading vaccine rollout.”

Reaction.life has been approached for comment.