Nicola Sturgeon has responded to the Tories' suspension of party member Jane Lax, who suggested the First Minister faked her miscarriage.
Lax, the party's treasurer in Moray, traded jokes with other Unionists on Twitter earlier this week. Yesterday, it emerged the Conservatives had suspended her.
Asked about the incident today, Sturgeon responded: "Well I absolutely think that it’s right for her to be suspended, obviously these comments are hurtful – and not just hurtful to me and to people close to me. I’ve been contacted by women who’ve also suffered miscarriages and these kinds of comments also stir up hurtful and painful feelings in others as well.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon miscarriage 'joke' Conservative is suspended
"So yes I welcome the fact she’s been suspended, I don’t particularly want to talk too much about what she said because I don’t want to dignify it with a response. I would say more generally though, for anybody who finds their political disagreements with somebody leading to make such offensive comments really has to take a long, hard look at themselves. And really think about what kind of person they are and hopefully, she will learn from this."
On Tuesday, an anonymous Twitter account Agent P shared an interview in which Sturgeon detailed the abuse she receives online.
Replying, Georgina Sparrow, a retired midwife from Dumfrieshire with a record of organising pro-Union campaigns, tweeted: “Has she mentions [sic] her fictional miscarriage yet?”
.@NicolaSturgeon has welcomed the Scottish Conservatives decision to suspend Tory activist Jane Lax - describing her comments on Twitter as “hurtful” pic.twitter.com/5qFhPn1hez
— Alan Smith (@Political_AlanS) 23 August 2019
Lax then replied: “Is that when she dropped a book?” and added three laughing emojis.
A spokesman for the Tories said: “These comments are unacceptable. Her membership will be suspended pending a disciplinary procedure.”
The activist was at the centre of a storm earlier this year when she was one of four Tories in the audience for an edition of Question Time broadcast from Elgin.
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