NICOLA Sturgeon isn’t a “successful” leader like Boris Johnson because she didn’t deliver Brexit, according to Nadine Dorries.
The Tory Culture Secretary claimed the SNP leader doesn’t have a “track record” like the Prime Minister.
She also suggested the First Minister gets an easier ride from the press and public because she is anti-Brexit.
Dorries made the comments as she was asked about an incident over the weekend in which Sturgeon was pictured without a face mask on while on a campaign visit to a barbers. The First Minister apologised after being spoken to by police.
GB News asked the Conservative minister if there was “one rule for Tory leaders and another for SNP leaders” after the Prime Minister was fined for breaking lockdown rules by attending a birthday bash in his honour on Downing Street.
She replied: “Well it’s a different political set up isn’t it? Nicola Sturgeon didn’t deliver Brexit ... She isn’t a successful leader in the way Boris Johnson is.
“It’s thanks to Boris Johnson that this country is completely free of restrictions unlike most of Europe and the rest of the world, including Scotland.
“So you know, she doesn’t have his track record of success and therefore nobody really wants to remove Nicola Sturgeon because she’s very pro-EU and she's very anti-Brexit. So of course nobody's going to call for Nicola Sturgeon to go."
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The SNP have been approached for comment.
Footage shared on social media showed Sturgeon without her mask on after she went inside a barbers in East Kilbride on Saturday.
The incident took place before laws requiring face masks to be worn in indoor public places were lifted in Scotland on Monday, and the First Minister was spoken to by Police Scotland.
Officers reminded her of the “importance of wearing a face covering when there is a legal requirement to do so”.
The First Minister accepted she had “lapsed”, but said what she did was not “equivalent to what Boris Johnson is accused of”.
In the Commons on Tuesday, the Prime Minister – who has already paid a fixed penalty notice for a breach of lockdown rules – repeatedly apologised to MPs.
But he also insisted he had not believed a gathering in the Cabinet Room at No 10 to mark his 56th birthday had violated the regulations in place at the time.
The First Minister addressed the issue on talk show Loose Women, where she said the difference between the rule breaks was that Johnson was not “honest”.
In a heated debate with panellist Carol McGiffin, Sturgeon said: “With Boris it’s the serial breaches at a time when the rest of the country was in very, very strict lockdown.
“But it’s also, to be blunt about it, when this first came to light he wasn’t honest about it and he wasn’t honest in the House of Commons.
“It’s really important that people can trust the Prime Minister to tell the truth. There’s got to be consequences for your actions.”
Sturgeon said it was right that she received a “harder time” than the average person, but added: “Is that the same as having, I think, six parties at the strictest part of lockdown and then not telling the truth to Parliament?”
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