The SNP leader puts stopping Brexit and a second referendum on independence at the forefront of the party's manifesto.
ADVERTISEMENTScottish Nationalist Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon branded Boris Johnson "dangerous and unfit for office" at the launch of the party's election manifesto in Glasgow.
Sturgeon, who is a Scottish MP and will not be running in the UK snap election on December 12, put stopping Brexit at the forefront of the SNP's pledge, promising to help deliver a second referendum on the UK remaining in the European Union.
"This election really matters. People are heartily sick of Brexit and the mess at Westminster," Sturgeon wrote in the introduction to the manifesto.
"But there is no end in sight to the Westminster Brexit chaos. A vote for the SNP is a vote to escape Brexit."
Second referendum
The SNP is also pushing for a second referendum on Scotland remaining part of the UK, arguing that the chaos over Brexit meant that Scotland - which voted heavily in favour of remain in the 2016 Brexit poll - should not be dragged out of the EU against its will if the UK leaves in January 2020.
From being a relatively marginal political force in Westminster prior to the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence, the SNP swept across Scotland in the 2015 election, all but wiping out Labour and the Liberal Democrats north of the border.
Although the party lost 17 seats in the 2017 election, it is hoping that anxiety over Brexit in Scotland could see it win more than 50 seats and take out the few Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem ones left. One of those seats is held by Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson, who has a majority of just 6,000.
Other policies
The SNP manifesto also commits to ending austerity and ensuring that the UK government matches Scottish per capita NHS spending, which would deliver increased funding for Scotland.
It also pledges action on drug policy, scrapping the Trident missile defence system and tackling the climate emergency.