John Swinney has hit back at comments made by Liz Truss about Nicola Sturgeon being an "attention seeker" and that she should be "ignored".
The Deputy First Minister said many Scots will feel "insulted" by the remarks made by the Foreign Secretary during a Conservative Party hustings event in Exeter on Monday night.
Swinney also believed Truss had "no right" to hit out at the First Minister as she appeals to gain the votes of Tories in the race to replace Boris Johnson in Downing Street.
Speaking at the event, Truss said: "I feel like I’m a child of the union, that I really believe we are a family and we’re better together. And I think the best thing to do with Nicola Sturgeon is ignore her.
"She’s an attention seeker, that’s what she is. And what we need to do is show the people of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales what we are delivering for them, and making sure that all of our government policies apply right across the United Kingdom."
Truss, who went to primary school in Paisley, also reiterated her stance on not allowing another referendum on Scottish independence.
Reacting to the comments, Swinney told Good Morning Scotland: "I think these remarks are deeply troubling and concerning. I think many people in Scotland regardless of their politics will be really concerned and in many cases insulted by them.
"Nicola Sturgeon is the democratically elected First Minister of Scotland, she represents a very sizeable proportion of public opinion in Scotland.
"At the last Scottish Parliament elections 48 per cent of the public voted for Nicola Sturgeon. The conservative leadership campaign has been conducted amongst our sort of private circle of 160,000 Conservative members.
"Nicola Sturgeon has far more democratic legitimacy than Liz Truss is going to have if she becomes the Prime Minister. I think Liz Truss has absolutely no right or no foundation to make these remarks."
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