Rishi Sunak says it's 'dangerously complacent' to ignore Nicola Sturgeon after Truss jibe

The former Chancellor has ruled out a new referendum on Scottish independence, saying instead he would 'run Britain's most active government of Scotland for decades"

Rishi Sunak denounced the comments from Liz Truss, who said she would "ignore" Nicola Sturgeon (

Image: Reuters)

Rishi Sunak said tonight that it was "dangerously complacent" to ignore Nicola Sturgeon, after rival Liz Truss came under fire for the remark.

Mr. Sunak, whose hopes of becoming the next prime minister were drastically shaken after a video emerged of him bragging about embezzling funds from deprived urban areas, said he had a plan to beat the SNP. p>

He ruled out granting a new referendum on Scottish independence, saying instead that he would 'run the most active British government in Scotland for decades'.

It comes after Ms Truss called the Scottish First Minister an 'attention seeker' and said the best approach was to 'ignore him'.

His comments, made at an election rally in Exeter on Monday, were described as 'cack handed' and 'unacceptable'.

Tonight, Mr. Sunak said: 'Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP pose an existential threat to our dear Union. To argue that we should ignore them is dangerously complacent.

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"We can't bury our heads in the sand and pretend they're not there; we have to stop them in their tracks.

"And that's exactly what I would do as Prime Minister: hold the SNP to account for its failures and personally ensure that the UK government is focused on delivering every part of our United Kingdom. "

His campaign team who, as Chancellor Mr Sunak, secured £41billion a year for Scotland and protected around a million Scottish jobs during the pandemic.

Earlier this week Ms Truss told host Seb Payne: 'I feel like a union kid, I really believe we are family and we are better off together and I think the best thing to do with Nicola Sturgeon is ignore it."