CLEGG OPPOSES FAIRNESS FOR SCOTTISH VOTERS IN TV DEBATES

CLEGG OPPOSES FAIRNESS FOR SCOTTISH VOTERS IN TV DEBATES

"BARE KNUCKLE" CLEGG JUST ANOTHER WESTMINSTER POLITICIAN

CLEGG DOESN'T KNOW ABOUT SCOTLAND & DOESN’T WANT TO DISCUSS CUTS OR NUKES

Commenting on Nick Clegg's opposition to SNP involvement in the leaders election debates has exposed the hollowness of his words on "fairness", says the SNP's election co-ordinator Stewart Hosie.

Mr Hosie said:

"Nick Clegg’s remarks about the TV debates show him up as just another Westminster machine politician.

"The LibDems were part of the Westminster carve up that excluded the SNP and Scotland from the debates, and indeed Scottish voters from the audience. So much for Nick Clegg’s belief in honesty and fairness.

"Alex Salmond won the Sky debate hands down – which reinforces the SNP’s case for inclusion in the BBC debate this week. Nick Clegg, like the other London-based party leaders, is afraid of debating the First Minster because he doesn’t want to be challenged on the real issues.

"Like the other London-based parties, the LibDems are trying to conceal the extent of their £250 billion cuts agenda from the electorate, but the information is now out in the public domain and they all must come clean in this campaign. And Nick Clegg doesn’t want to be challenged on his support for billions of pounds of spending on nuclear weapons.

"A vote for the Lib Dems would be a vote for the Westminster machine, as Nick Clegg’s remarks demonstrate. A vote for the SNP is a vote for Scotland.”

And following on from his previous gaffe on a previous Scottish visit when Nick Clegg referred to Edinburgh’s “mighty shipbuilding industry”, Mr Hosie also seized on his remarks today when he described politics as a "bare knuckle fight" in Scotland" as showing how out of touch he was with Scotland on his fleeting visits.

Mr Hosie said:

"Nick Clegg’s 'bare knuckle fight' remarks yet again show him up as another Westminster machine politician. As the 2007 election result showed, voters don't like this type of negative politics. Just like his previous comments about Edinburgh’s “mighty shipbuilding industry” he exposes himself as knowing little about Scotland.

"It also shows that he preaches one thing south of the Border, but practices the same old Westminster politics in Scotland because he is part of the same old Westminster machine along with Labour and Tories."