Alex Salmond has provoked a furious political row after insisting the riots that have brought chaos to the streets of Britain were solely an “English problem.”
The First Minister was accused of “gloating” and “point scoring” during controversial comments about the civil unrest that has devastated London, Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol.
Revealing that Scottish police officers would be deployed to England to help contain any further disorder, the SNP leader spoke of his “frustration” that the riots were being described as taking place in “the UK.”
“We know we have a different society in Scotland,” he said.
“One of my frustrations yesterday was to see the events being described as riots in the UK.
“Until such time we do have a riot in Scotland, what we are seeing are riots in London and across English cities.”
But the First Minister’s focus on the geography of the disturbances caused outrage from opposition politicians.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie accused Mr Salmond of “seeking narrow political advantage out of the misery of others.”
He said, “Instead of gloating about riots in another part of the UK, the First Minister’s efforts would be better spent addressing those deep rooted issues here.
“This is the worst face of nationalism. We deserve better from our First Minister.”‘Small-minded’Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray also attacked Mr Salmond’s attitude to the rioting, describing it as “small-minded and embarrassing”.
Mr Gray said his daughter is to marry a man from Manchester this week and had given his parents a tour of the Scottish Parliament.
He said, “I was proud to show them the Scottish Parliament but embarrassed by the Scottish First Minister’s keenness to distance himself from their concerns and portray the riots as an English problem.
“I would have thought the most important thing is to show support for the people in the cities affected.
“There are few Scots who don’t have relatives or friends in the places affected south of the border.”
He added, “I am sure I speak for most Scots when I say the most important thing is to make our streets safe and prevent further riots.
“He has let himself and Scotland down badly trying to push his narrow party political point at a time of crisis.”‘Parochial and petty’Scotland Office minister David Mundell also criticised the First Minister.
“What is unhelpful is the tone he has adopted in trying to make political capital out of a terrible situation,” said the Conservative MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale.
“It is a parochial and petty view to say he was frustrated by media descriptions of ‘riots in the UK’ as if that was the most pressing issue we currently face.”
He added, “I think most Scots would prefer to see the Scottish Government concentrate on providing practical assistance as part of the UK rather than scoring cheap points.”
However a Scottish Government spokesman claimed it was “inaccurate” to describe the disturbances as UK riots.
Photo used under Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr user StuartBannocks.