The Moray Conservatives are calling on Moray’s SNP candidate for the upcoming elections to condemn a pro-nationalist podcast which voiced and joked about an opinion that should Police based in England be sent to Scotland “They’d have to bus up Greater Manchester Police, Greater Manchester Police are basically, having seen them, they’re basically a paramilitary organisation. They’d have to bus them up here to put us back in our box. Frankly, the minute the busses started coming over the border, I’d happily sit there with a high-powered rifle and take them out.”
The ‘Aye Right’ features the voices of Jimmy Hutton, Norrie Stewart, Phil Attridge and Stewart Lochhead, originally from Keith but now resides in Edinburgh. The latter boasts a variety of prominent personal Facebook friends including; nationalist Columnist Lesley Riddoch, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People Shirley-Anne Somerville, Leader of Edinburgh City Council Cllr Adam McVey, Minister for Drugs Policy Angela Constance, SNP MP’s Kenny MacAskill and Deidre Brock, SNP’s Head of Digital, Ross Colquhoun and Minster for Further Education, Higher Education and Science and Moray’s SNP candidate, Richard Lochhead.
Moray Conservative Chair - Marc Macrae commented “Only on the 27th of January did Richard Lochhead say that ‘We must always tackle hate in all its forms.’ Yet only a few days later we find a friend of his on social media engaging in a discussion about shooting English police officers. If the events of 2021 have shown anything it has shown that words in politics matter, and comments like that do lead to violence. Politics in Scotland, and more specifically Moray alone have been filled with horrible personal abuse and threats – mostly targeted in one direction at Conservative elected members or their supporters. Moray boasts a proud heritage of welcoming people from all over the country and indeed the world. The fact that many of our residents no longer feel welcome here is testament to the type of behaviour that is becoming almost second nature in Scotland. This should have been firmly stamped on by the Nationalists a long time ago, but I fear it has grown out of proportion.
“These people taking part in this podcast are basically saying that there is going to have to be a confrontation between Scotland and England, and through their own choice of words are not advocating diplomacy but their own opinion that in this case the sword is mightier than then pen.
“If Richard Lochhead has any morals, he should issue a statement condemning his personal Facebook friend and the wider “Aye Right” movement on behalf of himself and the wider SNP party for these horrific comments. Failure to do so will lead to presumptions that these disgusting views are shared by both himself and many in the Scottish National Party.”
