May trying to impose hard Brexit and deeper cuts - Sturgeon

Theresa May is trying to impose a hard Brexit with the announcement of a snap general election, Nicola Sturgeon said, as she urged voters north of the border to "stand up for Scotland".

The First Minister accused the Prime Minister of using the surprise June 8 poll to seek to make the UK more right wing and "force through a hard Brexit and impose deeper cuts".

Ms Sturgeon said on Twitter: "The Tories see a chance to move the UK to the right, force through a hard Brexit and impose deeper cuts. Let's stand up for Scotland."

SNP depute leader Angus Robertson said the shock poll, to be held on June 8, would be a "straight choice in Scotland" between the SNP and the Tories.

With the Brexit vote and its aftermath having already resulted in a stand-off between the Prime Minister and Ms Sturgeon over the prospect of a second vote on independence, Mr Robertson said on Twitter: "Whatever happened to 'now is not the time'? UK General Election: 8th June. Straight choice in Scotland between @theSNP and Tories. #VoteSNP"

In recent months Downing Street has repeatedly denied any suggestion that there could be a general election before May 2020, the time the next ballot was scheduled to take place.

At the same time Mrs May has insisted that "now is not the time" for another Scottish independence vote, despite claims from the SNP that another referendum is necessary to give Scots a choice between leaving the UK and Brexit.

While polls continue to show the SNP well ahead of all other political parties in Scotland, the nationalists will struggle to replicate the success of the 2015 referendum when they won all but three of the Scottish seats at Westminster.

In a longer statement from the SNP, Ms Sturgeon described the announcement as "one of the most extraordinary U-turns in recent political history", and said Mrs May is "once again putting the interests of her party ahead of those of the country".

Scotland's First Minister said: "She is clearly betting that the Tories can win a bigger majority in England given the utter disarray in the Labour Party.

"That makes it all the more important that Scotland is protected from a Tory Party which now sees the chance of grabbing control of government for many years to come and moving the UK further to the right - forcing through a hard Brexit and imposing deeper cuts in the process.

"That means that this will be - more than ever before - an election about standing up for Scotland, in the face of a right-wing, austerity-obsessed Tory government with no mandate in Scotland but which now thinks it can do whatever it wants and get away with it."

Ms Sturgeon said it was "a huge political miscalculation" by the Prime Minister.

She added: "It will once again give people the opportunity to reject the Tories' narrow, divisive agenda, as well as reinforcing the democratic mandate which already exists for giving the people of Scotland a choice on their future.

"The SNP will always put the people of Scotland first - and between now and June 8, we will work harder than ever to retain the trust of the people."