Liz Truss says she will ignore 'attention-seeking' Nicola Sturgeon

Liz Truss will "ignore" Nicola Sturgeon's demands for a second independence referendum if she becomes prime minister.

The Tory leadership hopeful told a hustings event that she would say "no, no, no" to another independence vote should she win the race to become party leader.

"I am a child of the Union; I really believe we are a family and we are better together," she said.

"I think the best thing to do with Nicola Sturgeon is to ignore her. I'm sorry, she's an attention seeker - that's what she is.

"What we need to do is show the people of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales what we are delivering for them and make sure all our government policies apply right across the United Kingdom."

Truss told the event she believed the 2014 independence referendum was a "once in a generation" event.

She said: "Nicola Sturgeon can carry on talking about an independence referendum. We had the referendum in 2014...I didn't realise a generation happened within 10 years, that doesn't make any sense. We've got to call her out on that..."

Asked if that was an absolute 'no' to another referendum, Truss said: "No, no, no."

Responding to Truss' comments, SNP deputy Westminster leader Kirsten Oswald said: “The likely next prime minister has made crystal clear the partnership of equals Scotland was promised in 2014 was a sham.
 
“Firing cheap shots to grab headlines is straight out of the Trump playbook but reveals as never before the contempt Westminster has for the democratic choices people in Scotland make and the elected Scottish Government.
 
“We’ve already seen with Brexit that the Tories and Labour want to ignore Scotland’s government and the wishes of the Scottish people and exert even more control from Westminster.
 
“But Truss’s cack-handed comments are also a massive blunder on her part because they expose the ugly reality of Tory attitudes to Scotland and will only strengthen support for independence.”