TWITTER recently brought in a new function that prompts users of the social media platform to read a story before sharing it - Tory MSP Dean Lockhart might want to take note.
The Holyrood member for the Mid Scotland and Fife region was fuming after he read a tweet from The National on Wednesday night.
Promoting Lesley Riddoch’s latest video column, the tweet read: “Should Scotland be partitioned into Yes and No voting areas so that every region gets the result it voted for? - Lesley Riddoch looks at the reality of the question.”
Should Scotland be partitioned into Yes and No voting areas so that every region gets the result it voted for? - @LesleyRiddoch looks at the reality of the question 📹👇https://t.co/X7plGcYxaR
— The National (@ScotNational) June 8, 2021
Readers of The National may have noticed that this was in reference to yesterday’s story about Scottish Tory councillor Andrew Wood.
Dean Lockhart didn’t.
Wood, who previously represented the SNP, had a severe change of heart two decades in. He now sits on Dumfries and Galloway council as part of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist group.
His heart is apparently not set on unity either though, as he called for the Scottish Border to be “moved north” and island communities such as Shetland and Orkney to break away in the event of a Yes vote. Hence our reference to a partition.
READ MORE: Scottish Tory councillor calls for Scotland to be partitioned after Yes vote
Furious at what he had read on Twitter, and attributing it to either The National or Lesley, Lockhart wrote: “Even using language such as ‘partition’ is incredibly divisive and echoes the bitter sectarian conflict which we have seen in Northern Ireland.
“This, at a time when we need to be pulling together to recover from the pandemic, is ridiculous.”
Even using language such as ‘partition’ is incredibly divisive and echoes the bitter sectarian conflict which we have seen in Northern Ireland. This, at a time when we need to be pulling together to recover from the pandemic, is ridiculous. https://t.co/ASnUhVWhbo
— Dean Lockhart MSP (@DeanLockhartMSP) June 9, 2021
We agree Dean. Divisive Tory councillors echoing sectarian conflicts is ridiculous.
In fact, we agree so much that The Jouker’s article about Councillor Wood even drew the same Irish comparison.
Struck by the rarity of the situation (The National agreeing with a Scottish Tory?!), we asked the party if Lockhart stood by his comments, or if he planned to retract them now he knew he was actually attacking his Tory colleague.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, we haven’t heard anything back.
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