Nicola Sturgeon attacks 'gambler' Salmond - then says referendum must be held during Covid recovery

Nicola Sturgeon has lashed out at Alex Salmond for being a "gambler" - then set out plans for an independence referendum while Scotland is still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.

The First Minister said her former mentor, whom for years she asked Scots to trust to lead to independence, "backs the horses on a near daily basis" and was asking voters to "gamble on the outcome of this election" with his new Alba Party.

Despite Mr Salmond's offer to work with her to achieve an independence "super-majority" in the Holyrood chamber, she said him setting up a separate party was not "a friendly gesture on Mr Salmond's part towards the SNP."

Challenged that this was the same Alex Salmond that she had asked voters to support in the 2014 referendum and election after election, Ms Sturgeon said: "The point I'm making is about how he's behaving now. I trusted Alex Salmond for a long, long time."

The First Minister said her planned independence referendum would happen after Scotland is out of the "acute phase" of the pandemic, a term she defined as world leaders telling their populations about ongoing mass fatalities.

However, she said the separation vote would happen in the subsequent "recovery phase". Ms Sturgeon confirmed in an election TV debate this week she wanted the referendum to be held by the end of 2023.

Her intervention came after the impartial Institute for Fiscal Studies disclosed this week that the SNP Government's public spending per person is 30 per cent higher than England's thanks to additional funds from the UK Treasury.

Douglas Ross, the Scottish Tory leader, said Ms Sturgeon's referendum timetable was the clearest sign yet the SNP would "put another referendum before Scotland's recovery."

He said: “Nicola Sturgeon talks of Alex Salmond being a betting man but she’s willing to gamble Scotland’s recovery on a reckless plan to break up the country.

"The SNP’s obsession with independence is clouding her judgement. The last thing Scotland needs is more uncertainty and a new constitutional crisis on top of the health and economic crisis we’re facing."

He mocked Ms Sturgeon's realisation that Mr Salmond was allegedly "a bit economical with the truth" as many people were saying the same thing when she and her mentor signed off the White Paper on independence before the 2014 referendum.

Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, said Ms Sturgeon's timetable was "irresponsible" as the Covid economic crisis "will not end the day lockdown ends or when we finally defeat the virus."

Mr Salmond has said he wants to manipulate Holyrood's complicated electoral system to deliver a "super-majority" for independence, with nationalists voting SNP in their constituencies and for his party on the regional list.

The former First Minister claimed this strategy could deliver a Holyrood chamber with 70 per cent of MSPs backing separation, despite this only being supported by around half the population.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, Ms Sturgeon said rejected the strategy and said she wanted to win a "simple" majority for the SNP.

She said: "You only have to cast your mind back to the days when Alex Salmond was leader of the SNP and he didn't say what he is saying now.

"What he said then – and he was right then – is that the only way to make sure you get the government you want is to vote for the party that will be that government. Anything else is trying to gamble with the system, game the system and take a chance on the outcome of the election."

Ms Sturgeon added: "Anybody who tries to suggest that there's a shortcut to that, or that we can somehow game or trick our way to independence frankly is misleading people."

In another jibe directed at her former political soulmate, she insisted that the SNP was not divided and that fewer of her party's politicians had defected to Alba than "Mr Salmond was hoping for."

Mr Salmond later said he had not gambled that day as he was staging Alba Party events.