Sturgeon told SNP must take responsibility for shame Scotland faces in ‘awful assessment’

Nicola Sturgeon 'will have problems' without SNP win says expert

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Mandy Rhodes told 5 News that Nicola Sturgeon will have a “problem” if the SNP does not perform in a similar fashion to their 2016 triumph in the upcoming Scottish Parliamentary election. Ms Rhodes added that the record number of drug deaths in Scotland is a source of “absolute national shame”.

She said: “If we come out of that election with the SNP not winning as well as they did in 2016, I think Nicola Sturgeon has a problem and we may see changes happen then.”

Ms Rhodes continued: “This must have been the most hellish year possible for a leader to be running a country going through a pandemic.

“There is no doubt the pressure on her will have been immense.

“As everybody keeps repeating she is an incredibly good communicator.

“I guess there is a point on a personal level where you start to think if people keep saying I am just a great communicator does that mean I am just about spin.”

She added: “We have also had some pretty awful assessments on things like record number of drug deaths in Scotland which is just an absolute national shame.

“While Nicola is saying at the moment, ‘I accept this, it is terrible’ the party has been in power for 14 years.

“At some point, you have to take responsibility for these things.”

In December, Scotland’s First Minister addressed the nation’s record on drug-related deaths, stating it was “completely unacceptable” and “indefensible” and added the SNP Government had “much to do to sort this out”.

Nicola Sturgeon grilled by Peston on 'irrelevant independence'

On Wednesday, Ms Sturgeon admitted that the SNP is working hard to beat the system of proportional representation used in the Scottish Parliamentary election in order to secure Scottish independence.

The SNP leader outlined her preferred pathway to a second Scottish independence referendum during an interview with ITV’s Robert Peston.

Scotland’s First Minister stated that rather than the SNP needing to secure a majority in Holyrood, the Scottish Parliament must have a majority of pro-independence MSPs for her to be able to continue pushing for Indyref2. 

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Ms Sturgeon said: “There has to be a simple majority in the Scottish Parliament of MSPs to support a referendum for there to be a mandate for a referendum.

“Obviously, I hope the SNP wins a majority but there is a proportional representation electoral system to the Scottish Parliament so that is not an easy thing to do.

“You are required to almost break the system to do it but that is what we are working hard to achieve.

“A simple majority of pro-independence MSPs is what you need to secure the mandate for a referendum.”

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