Nicola Sturgeon has said she wants Andy Burnham to succeed as Prime Minister, just days after he urged separatist leaders to put politics aside and work with him.
In an appearance as a BBC pundit, the former First Minister spoke favourably about the Labour leader's politics and declared that she wanted him to succeed for the entirety of the UK.
It comes despite John Swinney claiming that Mr Burnham will be the last Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Ms Sturgeon also criticised Chancellor John Healey for a TV interview in which she claimed he tried to 'speak without saying anything', and declared that she wanted the Greens to get over the 'self-inflicted' harm caused by its position that 'Zionism is racism'.
Giving her opinion during an appearance on the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Ms Sturgeon said that 'the jury's out' on how Mr Burnham and Mr Healey had managed the Budget, and said 'public anger will pretty quickly kick in' if there is not more action to come.
She said: 'This is a Prime Minister who came to office promising the end of neo-liberalism. These weren't small promises.
'He said he wants to reform social care, you know sort out the relationship with the EU. He's got to start delivering.'
She said she has 'huge sympathy' for the position Labour is in but she felt 'frustrated' listening to the BBC's interview with Mr Healey.
Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told Laura Kuenssberg she hopes Andy Burnham is a successful Prime Minister
She said: 'I think Andy Burnham, you know I'm not a Labour politician I think everybody knows that, but I find myself wanting him to do well, wanting him to succeed, because I think the entirety of the UK needs that to happen.
'He's got this enormous stock of political capital and goodwill, he needs to get on and use it.
'Because I know political capital dissipates quickly and you find yourself then looking back and thinking I wish I did more with it sometimes.
'So get on and do these things.'
It comes after Mr Burnham urged the nationalist devolved leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to 'put politics aside and work in partnership with the UK Government' during a meeting of his new National Economic Council in Glasgow last week.
Mr Burnham previously said in his Labour conference speech in September that he was 'utterly determined' to prove Mr Swinney wrong after his claim that he would be the last Prime Minister of the UK.
Ms Sturgeon made her appearance on the programme as a new poll on Sunday showed most Scots don't believe her when she says she had no knowledge of her husband Peter Murrell's criminality.
According to a Norstat poll commissioned by the Sunday Times, 59 per cent of respondents do not believe that she had no knowledge of Mr Murrell's crimes, compared to 23 per cent who believe her.
Ms Sturgeon has said that she was 'utterly appalled' by his actions when SNP chief executive and that she had 'no knowledge or suspicion whatsoever' that he was using the party's cash for personal purposes.
Murrell was jailed for five years and three months after admitting embezzling more than £400,000 from the SNP.
Scottish Conservative deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said: 'Nicola Sturgeon has some cheek to be discussing the UK's finances when her own husband was stealing money from SNP members.
'Her party has presided over a £5 billion hole in Scotland's finances. With a record like that, she is in no position to hand out economic advice.'
Source link
