Susanna Reid pressed Nicola Sturgeon on her reported disappointment over the Scottish flag being displayed across Aberdeen

GMB: Susanna and Nicola Sturgeon clash over Scottish flag

Susanna Reid grilled Nicola Sturgeon as tensions flared over Scottish flags being raised in Aberdeen. Sturgeon, the longest-serving Scottish first minister, appeared on Good Morning Britain ahead of the release of her new book, Frankly. In the tell-all memoir, Sturgeon opens up about the personal and political moments that have shaped her. Before they spoke about the book, Susanna quizzed the former politician on why she was “upset” about the spreading of the Scottish saltire around Aberdeen.

“I was in Aberdeen over the weekend and saw some saltires on some lamposts, which just took me a little bit by surprise,” Sturgeon said. Susanna interjected to ask whether she is still a Scottish nationalist, to which Sturgeon agreed. “The saltire is the symbol of Scottish nationalism,” the presenter said.

Susanna Reid and Nicola Sturgeon clashed over the saltire being raised around parts of Scotland (Image: ITV)

Sturgeon, who resigned as leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in February 2023, hit back: “I suspect it’s not being put on lampposts to spread that positive view of Scotland.”

Susanna interrupted: “How do you know?”

Sturgeon said: “This will probably come as a bit of a surprise to you guys and to people listening, for all that I am a Scottish independence supporter, I’ve never been that into flags.

“I think we should get less worked up about flags. Flags don’t have personalities of their own. They portray a good image of a country if the country has a good image and vice versa.”

Stepping in, Susanna declared: “You were the person who noticed there were a lot of flags.”

Nicola Sturgeon admitted she was surprised by the amount of Scottish flags she saw on lampposts (Image: ITV)
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When Sturgeon clarified this was because she was asked about it in an interview, Susanna remarked: “Yes but didn’t say, ‘Wonderful. Display the flag if you want to. Let’s celebrate the flag.’ You’ve just cast dispersions on the people who are raising those flags. You said you wondered why they were raising them.”

Laughing at the comment, Sturgeon insisted: “I haven’t cast dispersions. It was unusual. I have never in all my time in politics and in all my 55 years on this planet, I’ve not been aware of lots of flags on lamposts before. I simply commented in response to a question about it that it was something that took me a little bit by surprise – that was it.”

In March 2025, Sturgeon announced that she would be standing down as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) at the next election.