Nicola Sturgeon has told the Liberal Democrats not to “flatter themselves” by painting her trip to Fife as a panicked reaction to their Scottish “fightback”.
The First Minister, who was in St Andrews, also suggested Theresa May’s erroneous implication of the Nationalists in the election expenses scandal was part of a smear campaign to deflect attention from Tory misconduct.
Ms Sturgeon was meeting students as part of a visit to the battleground seat of North East Fife yesterday, where the SNP’s Stephen Gethins had a 4,344-vote majority two years ago.
Alex Cole-Hamilton, for the liberals, said the FM is “obviously panicking” by making a second visit to a Lib Dem marginal seat this week.
In an interview with The Courier, Ms Sturgeon said: “I would say to the Liberal Democrats they shouldn’t flatter themselves.
“I’m coming to the North East Fife constituency because it’s an important constituency with a fantastic MP, but I’ll be going to every part of the country over this campaign because I take nothing for granted.
I want to get out and about, making sure that I’m making the case for strong SNP voices in the House of Commons.”
Ms Sturgeon demanded an apology from the Prime Minister for claiming the SNP had been fined over election campaign spending.
“Theresa May attempted to smear the SNP (on Wednesday) to try to distract attention from her own party’s wrongdoing over election expenses and I think she should retract that and apologise,” the Glasgow MSP said.
“I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt, maybe she did it inadvertently and made a mistake, although I suspect it was probably more trying to smear us with the same brush as her own party.”
The Tories were cleared of criminal wrongdoing when prosecutors decided on Wednesday not to charge dozens of Conservative candidates and election agents following electoral fraud allegations.
But the Conservatives were fined a record £70,000 earlier in the year by the Electoral Commission for “significant failures” in the way campaign spending in 2015 was filed.
The PM said those who made the criminal allegations “will have to consider the basis on which they made those complaints”.
Ms Sturgeon was visiting the physics school at St Andrews, which she said is under attack by Tory Brexit plans to stop the free flow of EU nationals.
The SNP leader said: “Brexit poses a real risk to the success and the prosperity of our universities – research funding is at risk, the ability of academic and research staff to come from other European countries and obviously the free flow of students.”
Elizabeth Riches, the former East Neuk councillor, is up against the SNP’s Stephen Gethins in North East Fife on June 8.
Mr Cole-Hamilton accused the SNP of running a “negative and miserable” campaign.
“It shows that the SNP are very worried that the party will lose seats to the Liberal Democrats in seats across Scotland including East Dunbartonshire and North East Fife,” he said.
The Scottish Conservative candidate for North East Fife denied it is a two-horse race between the SNP and Lib Dems, as he pointed to a strong Tory showing in the area in the council election.
Tony Miklinski, a Falklands veteran, said: “I relish the opportunity to take this seat from the SNP.
“Our country urgently needs a strong and stable Union and a successful Brexit.
“Only Theresa May and the Conservative Party can deliver that outcome, and I hope the people of NE Fife will give her the support she needs by electing me.”
