The Scottish National Party has been mocked by the Labour Party after it appeared to lift a slogan once used by Margaret Thatcher on an election billboard.
A massive poster carrying the image of Nicola Sturgeon in support of its Scottish Parliament election campaign is replete with the slogan: “Don’t just hope for a better Scotland, vote for one.”
The line apes one used on a Conservative billboard featuring the former Tory Prime Minister, a deeply unpopular figure north of the border, from 1979.
"Don’t just hope for a better life, vote for one,” it read.
The slogan clash was highlighted in a tweet by Kezia Dugdale, leader of the Scottish Labour Party.
Opinion polls have the SNP in line for a comfortable victory in the May 5 Holyrood elections, putting the party on course for an historic third term in office, with Labour and the Tories battling for second.
Scottish Labour Deputy Leader and Campaign Director Alex Rowley said: “We knew the SNP under Nicola Sturgeon had ditched the left wing rhetoric, but we didn’t expect them to start stealing Thatcher’s lines.
"Maybe Alex Salmond’s view that Scots ‘didn’t mind’ Margaret Thatcher’s economic policy is alive and well in the SNP.
“I’m sure Nicola Sturgeon will cringe at the idea of being compared to Margaret Thatcher – someone in SNP HQ will be getting the hairdryer treatment.
“In May, rather than voting for hundreds of millions of pounds of cuts to schools and services Scots can vote for a Labour Scottish Government that can stop the cuts.
"Faced with the choice between using the powers of the Scottish Parliament to invest in our economy or carrying on with the cuts, Labour would use the powers to stop the cuts."
SNP MP Stewart McDonald was dismissive of Labour's line of attack.
As was colleague, John Nicolson.
HuffPost UK has asked the SNP for comment.
A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: "They say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.
"Clearly Nicola Sturgeon looks up to Margaret Thatcher more than she would like to admit."
Others on Twitter pointed out how the Green Party had once done the same.
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