On Sunday, senior SNP figures sought to distance themselves from the comments as they were questioned at conference on whether they agreed with her. Ian Blackford, the party’s leader in Westminster, said: “You don’t hate the opposition. You work to remove them.” Donald Cameron, the Tory shadow constitution secretary for Scotland, said: “Nicola Sturgeon should be more careful and respectful of the language she uses.” Ruth Davidson, former leader of the Scottish Tories, tweeted: “With Nicola Sturgeon’s ‘I loathe the Tories’ line earlier, there is clearly a strategy ramping up the rhetoric at this SNP conference to destroy a quarter of the population who voted in Scotland”. At an Edinburgh Fringe event in the summer, Ms Sturgeon said she felt “increasingly uncomfortable” with political opponents being portrayed as “somewhat evil and should not be dealt with in any way”. The row arose after Angela Rayner, the deputy Labor leader, apologized last year for describing the Tories as “scum”. Ms Sturgeon will argue on Monday that divorce will strengthen ties between Scotland and the rest of the UK by creating a “relationship of equals”. The First Minister will use her keynote speech at the SNP conference in Aberdeen to argue that “aggressive unionism” is undermining the UK. While admitting that “at first glance it may seem strange”, he will argue that a Scottish breakup would be “the best way to protect the partnership on which the United Kingdom was founded – a voluntary partnership of nations”. . Meanwhile, Ms Sturgeon did not say whether she was confident an independence referendum would take place next year as she faced polls showing only around a third of Scots supported her plan.
