Nicola Sturgeon: ‘No issue’ with Queen comments

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon meets the Queen at Buckingham Palace, London. Picture: PA

NICOLA Sturgeon has said she had “no issue” with any comments the Queen made in the run-up to the independence referendum.

Scotland’s new First Minister travelled to London today for her first audience with the Queen since she took over from Alex Salmond.

In the run-up to the vote on the UK’s future, the Queen is reported to have told a well-wisher that Scots should “think very carefully about the future” when casting their ballot.

She is said to have made the remark outside Crathie Kirk, near her Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire.

But Ms Sturgeon said: “I have no issue with anything the Queen did or did not say during the referendum,” according to a tweet from Norman Smith, BBC News’ assistant political editor.

He also reported that the new SNP leader had described relations with the palace as being “very good, very strong, very positive” and that she had “no reason to believe” the Queen had favoured the No campaign.

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Ms Sturgeon is also said to have expressed her desire to “work constructively” with Prime Minister David Cameron to deliver more powers for Holyrood.

As well as having an audience with the Queen, Ms Sturgeon was also in London to be sworn in as a member of the Privy Council - a group of advisers to the Queen, most of whom are senior politicians.

Ms Sturgeon said she was “very much looking forward” to her first meeting with the Queen when the audience was announced last month.

Ms Sturgeon became Scotland’s fifth First Minister, and the first woman to hold the post, after a vote at Holyrood last month

Her predecessor Mr Salmond had stepped down from the roles of both SNP leader and First Minister in the wake of the referendum defeat.

He has since announced that he intends to stand for the Westminster seat of Gordon at next year’s general election.

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