Anger as Nationalist MSP brands opposition parties ‘anti-Scottish’

A NATIONALIST MSP has sparked a bitter war of words after she claimed pro-Union parties opposed to the SNP’s timetable for an independence referendum were “anti-Scottish”.

South of Scotland MSP Joan McAlpine told the Scottish Parliament “interference” by Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives over the SNP’s proposals was against the will of the country.

During a Holyrood debate, she said: “I absolutely make no apology for saying that the Liberals, the Labour Party and the Tories are anti-Scottish, in coming together to defy the will of the Scottish people, the democratic mandate that the Scottish people gave us to hold a referendum at a time of our choosing, in which the First Minister said would be the latter half of the parliament.”

Earlier, she used her Twitter page to hit out at Scottish Secretary Michael Moore, who this week laid out plans to give the Scottish Parliament powers to hold a legally binding referendum, but called on the SNP to hold it soon, and with a single question.

“Interfering in referendum is anti-Scottish as is refusal to compromise on popular desire 4 powers to Scotland,” she said, referring to the opposition of the other parties to a second question in the referendum on so-called “devo-max”.

She also tweeted that the SNP’s high poll ratings were “perhaps because of the negative anti-Scottish behaviour of the unionist parties”.

Her comments follow briefings from the coalition government earlier this week that suggested the SNP would be forced to hold the referendum within 18 months.

Ms McAlpine, a former journalist who writes a column for The Scotsman, is one of the more influential SNP back-benchers, having worked closely with Alex Salmond during the election campaign, writing speeches and offering advice.

Her comments drew a cool reaction from the First Minister’s spokesman, who sought to limit any damage by claiming Ms McAlpine had been referring only to the “leaderships of the Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem parties at Westminster” who, he said, “have been interfering in Scotland’s right to set our own terms for the referendum”.

Ms McAlpine then released a statement clarifying her comments. She said: “Let me be crystal clear – people and parties can hold whatever views they wish and be patriotic Scots. As was clear in my tweets and comments, the Tory, Lib Dem and Labour leaderships – whom my remarks were directed at – should not be ganging up against Scotland’s democratic right to decide our own future.”

That failed to appease her opponents, however, with one Tory MSP likening her comments to “political racism”. Scottish Conservative deputy leader Jackson Carlaw told MSPs: “If you spoke against somebody who was gay, you would be homophobic; if you spoke against someone who was black, you would be racist. If you say that people are anti-Scottish because they belong to a different political party, that is a form of political racism.”

Later, he said: “Clearly, Alex Salmond has been left rattled and embarrassed by this crass comment and he now seems to have hung this MSP out to dry.”

Lothians Labour MSP Neil Findlay said: “This is the worst of nationalism, which I thought was buried in the past, and simply unacceptable. Like so many people, I am proud of my country and I love Scotland. With these kinds of views, no wonder support for separation goes down the longer the SNP is in government.”

He added: “Her position as a ministerial adviser to Alex Salmond is completely untenable, so no wonder the Scottish Government has hung her out to dry by disassociating itself from her views.

“She must apologise to the Scottish Parliament, and Alex Salmond should sack her.”