THE leader of the Scottish LibDems has continued to face criticism after comments he made during a debate on independence.
It comes as a petition calling on Alex Cole-Hamilton to resign gathers pace, with well over 1000 people having signed.
Speaking at an Oxford Union debate on Scottish independence, Cole-Hamilton compared the Yes movement with the push for Brexit.
He said: “We are a people trapped between flags, between politicians who mythologise and pine for ancient nations that can never and should never exist again in the global world in which we find ourselves.”
The very epitome of British nationalism. https://t.co/G0i2hHaifI
— Keith Brown (@KeithBrownSNP) May 16, 2023
The SNP’s depute leader hit out at Cole-Hamilton after the Scottish LibDem leader re-tweeted The National’s front page with the caption: “There’s been a journalism.”
Keith Brown said it was “the very epitome of British nationalism”.
Elsewhere, the SNP’s policy development convener Toni Giugliano told The National: “If you have so much disdain for the country you live in – to the point you’re denying its right to nationhood perhaps you should consider your position as a lawmaker in our national parliament.”
Several others took to Twitter to criticise Cole-Hamilton with one user pointing out that he may have just made himself “less popular than Rishi Sunak in Scotland right now”.
Another described his re-tweet of The National’s front page as “shameless” while a third said it would be “best just to resign now”.
Someone else said: “Are you denying saying it?”
MSP for East Lothian Paul McLennan re-tweeted the clip with the caption: “This is Scottish unionism” while MSP Colin Beattie said it was an “attack on Scotland”.
This is Scottish Unionism 😐🤔 https://t.co/KuJiBC2s0Y
— Paul McLennan - MSP for East Lothian (@PaulMcLennan7) May 15, 2023
The Alba Party were also among those to slam Cole-Hamilton for his comments, saying the “tired arguments of Unionists” were the reason for the party’s reported increase in membership.
Their deputy general secretary Corri Wilson told The National: “It will be of no surprise to any independence supporter that Alex Cole-Hamilton doesn’t support the right of the people of Scotland to determine their own future but the overwhelming majority of Scots will also reject his extraordinary view that Scotland should not really exist as a nation at all.”
