Does Nicola Sturgeon really want to fly the EU flag?

The news that Nicola Sturgeon has asked for the EU flag to be flown every day from the Scottish Parliament building won’t come as a surprise to those familiar with her much-documented Europhilia. Indeed, when Britain was edging ahead in the vaccine race, she threatened to publish confidential information about the UK’s vaccine supply in order to offer support to Brussels, potentially undermining our vaccine deals. The fact that she was prepared to do this in order to cosy up to the EU tells you everything you need to know about the SNP’s particular brand of nationalism.

What’s most bizarre about Sturgeon’s focus on the EU is that she lives and breathes Scottish independence. Why, if it matters so much to her, would she want to take Scotland straight into a centrist bloc whose expressed aim is an ‘ever closer union’? It doesn’t appear to make much sense, but then again, neither does flying the EU flag in a country that is no longer part of the EU.