West Lothian Tory by-election candidate shares anti-devolution messages and 'tasteless' joke on social media

A TORY candidate has apologised for reposting social media messages calling for the Scottish Parliament to be abolished along with a "tasteless" joke about First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Eddie Millar shared this anti-devolution post

Eddie Millar, who is standing in the Livingston South by-election for West Lothian Council, put on his Facebook page two posts from anti-Nationalist page SNPOut. One featured a picture of inside the parliament with the caption "Holyrood a failed experiment, time to close it down". Mr Millar added the comment: "Yes, get rid of it."

The other showed a picture of Ms Sturgeon and SNP ministers John Swinney and Humza Yousaf with the question: “Do you agree Holyrood is a waste of money?” and the slogan “Abolish Holyrood” against a Union Jack.

Mr Millar – who used to be a member of the SNP – also shared a joke whose punchline alluded to Ms Sturgeon as a “cow”.

One Livingston voter who saw the posts said she was “shocked”. She said: “I knew that Boris Johnson was anti-devolution but is this now the official policy of the Scottish Conservatives? Top Tory MSPs like Miles Briggs have been out campaigning for this Mr Millar so do they support the abolition too? He is standing for election but thinks you can call women ‘cows’?”

The by-election, which was caused by the retirement of former SNP council leader Peter Johnson, has been postponed because of Covid and is now scheduled for March,

Almond Valley SNP MSP Angela Constance said: “It speaks volumes about the Tories that their candidate appears to be talking about abolishing the Scottish Parliament and appears to be focused on turning the clock back and turning his back on democracy. It's a somewhat out-of-touch and old fashioned view.”

Mr Millar said he did not mean the parliament should be abolished and it was “definitely not” party policy.

He said: “I've made a mistake, I said something I shouldn't have said, it's not party policy.

“What I meant was I don't think the SNP are the right people to be in there.

"I truly believe Holyrood is important. The Conservatives want to keep it. I believe we should keep it because I think it's good people in Scotland have that voice.”

He said he did not remember reposting the joke and apologised for doing so.

“The same joke was told about the Queen a few years ago, no doubt the same sort of jokes have been told about Maggie Thatcher, the same joke's been told about loads of different people.

“It's a joke, it doesn't mean anything. If I've offended someone I apologise.”

Damian Timson, Conservative group leader on West Lothian Council, said he had spoken to Mr Millar and he recognised reposting the messages was "not the ideal thing to do".

Cllr Timson said: “I think like a lot of people he would say Holyrood isn’t working at the moment because of the failing SNP government, and next May is an opportunity to change that - but it certainly should not be closed.”

He said Mr Millar had been an SNP member until a couple of years ago, but quit because he disagreed with its policy of being in EU and was unhappy about the party. “He felt they were just about independence and nothing else. That's why he left and came over to us.”

Cllr Timson said: “Eddie is campaigning hard and will make an excellent councillor.”

Lothian Tory MSP Miles Briggs said he had helped deliver leaflets for Mr Millar but did not know him well. He said calling for Holyrood to be abolished was “out of touch with the majority of people in Scotland”.

"A lot of people are unhappy with the SNP government but they need to realise that’s not the parliament. People should be more aware of what they are posting. He is not the first person to be caught out on social media and he certainly won’t be the last.”

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