NICOLA Sturgeon has accused the media of peddling a narrative that “everything in Scotland is shit”.
The former first minister urged Scots not to “talk ourselves down” during an appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe on Saturday, where she spoke to Iain Dale for an edition of his All Talk show.
Sturgeon’s comments came after Dale read an audience question from a Scottish former teacher, who said they had moved to England due to a “failing Scottish education system” and “rabid nationalism peddled by the SNP”.
Responding, Sturgeon said: “I led my party through eight elections in my time as SNP leader and won every single one of them. Not everybody in Scotland supported me or the SNP, but we won democratic elections and we won most of them by a country mile – which says that there was a lot of support and is a lot of support for what we were doing.”
The former first minister added that the education system in Scotland is “not failing”.
“The Scottish education system has got challenges, education systems everywhere do, but this narrative that the Scottish education system is failing is just nonsense,” she said.
“OK, it's meant as a criticism of the SNP Government, fine, that's politics – but it's actually a real disservice to the teachers who do a great job in our schools and to the kids who are coming out with, as we saw last week, record exam passes.”
Sturgeon then added: “Let's not talk ourselves down. Let's tackle problems where they are, but not allow ourselves to be talked into this kind of media narrative that everything in the country's shit, because it really, really isn't.”
Elsewhere, the former first minister also left the door open for a return to elected politics.
She said: “I can't see myself ever wanting to stand for election again, but I don't know whether five years from now, I might feel differently.
“One of the things I have learned over the past few years is you don't know what lies ahead in life, so never say never.”
