Rishi Sunak includes Scottish nationalists in list of extremist threats to UK

Rishi Sunak has mentioned "Scottish nationalists" in a list of threats to the UK.

The Tory Prime Minister listed "Scottish nationalism" alongside Russia, Iran, North Korea, antisemitism and "gender activists".

It came in a section of a speech on "the dangers that threaten our country" at the Policy Exchange thinktank in London.

The SNP hit out at Sunak's "desperate attack" and said "the real extremists in the UK are the Tory Party".

Sunak said on Monday: "The dangers that threaten our country are real.

"There’s an increasing number of authoritarian states like Russia, Iran, North Korea and China working together to undermine us and our values.

"War has returned to Europe, with our Nato allies warning that if Putin succeeds in Ukraine, they might be next.

"War rages too in the middle east as Israel defends itself not only against the terrorists of Hamas but against a barrage of missiles fired from the first time directly from Iran.

"Right now, in Africa conflicts are being fought in 18 different countries and Putin's recklessness has taken us closer to a dangerous nuclear escalation than at any point since the Cuban Missile Crisis."

He said "extremists" are using global conflicts to "set Briton against Briton" and continued: "From gender activists trying to hijack children's sex education to cancel culture, vocal and aggressive fringe groups are trying to impose their views on the rest of us. They're trying to make it morally unacceptable to believe something different and undermine people's confidence and pride in our own history and identity.

"Scottish nationalists are even trying to tear our United Kingdom apart."

He added: “More will change in the next five years than the last 30" and claimed "the next few years will be some of the most dangerous yet the most transformational that our country has ever known".

SNP Westminster Depute Leader Mhairi Black said the attack would only encourage people to vote for the nationalists.

She said: "Independence is supported by half of Scotland's population - and Rishi Sunak's desperate attack on Scottish voters will only encourage more people to reject the Tories and vote SNP.

"The real extremists in the UK are the Tory Party - who have trashed the economy, imposed deep cuts to public services and dragged Scotland out of the EU against our will.

"And the best way to beat the Tories in Scotland is to vote SNP at the general election - to stand up for Scotland's values and advance Scotland's journey to independence."

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