Sturgeon: SNP win would reinforce independence poll mandate

Credit: PA

The SNP has unveiled its General Election manifesto pledging to increase the minimum wage and to call for a second independence referendum.

Launching the manifesto the SNP leader and Scottish First Minister urged Scots to help her keep the Tories "in check".

Nicola Sturgeon said the document "sets out a plan to end Tory cuts", freeing up £118 billion of public money across the UK over the term of the next parliament.

Speaking at the launch in Perth, she said: "We know that decisions taken at Westminster in the years ahead will shape our country.

Warning that crowd that "there was too much at stake for Brexit to be imposed on Scotland" Ms Sturgeon said the country "must have a choice about our future" between Brexit and independence.

She warned Theresa May that if the SNP wins the most seats in Scotland on June 8 that "continued Tory attempts" to block another referendum would be "democratically unsustainable".

Ms Sturgeon said: "I believe so strongly that at the end of the Brexit process - not now, but when the terms of the deal are known - Scotland must have a choice about our future; a choice between following the UK down the Brexit path or becoming an independent country."

Ms Sturgeon said being taken out of the EU and the single market would put 80,000 jobs in Scotland at risk and would pose "a real danger to our farmers and fisherman, our universities, our food and drink businesses, to almost every sector of our economy".

The SNP also gave its support to increasing the top rate of tax across the UK from 45p to 50p, alongside plans to increase the "real living wage" to just over £10 an hour by the end of the next parliament.

Ms Sturgeon said a win for SNP would reinforce calls for a second independence referendum. Credit: PA

Support the reversal of the two-child cap on tax credits also makes up part of the manifesto, with Ms Sturgeon pledging: "We will campaign tirelessly against the immoral rape clause that goes with it - a policy that shames every Tory candidate who supports it."

Criticising the Conservative's decision to end the triple lock pension scheme after 2020, Ms Sturgeon said the SNP would keep the scheme which sees pensions rise in line with whichever is highest; earnings, inflation or 2.5%.

Ms Sturgeon added: "The Tory manifesto is nothing short of an assault on pensioners - from the dementia tax, to the removal of the winter fuel allowance and the ending of the triple lock."

She said the Tories "think they can take the votes of many older people for granted " as she told older voters: "If you don't want them to have a free hand to remove your hard-won protections, make sure you elect strong voices who will stand up for you.