THE SNP is under fire for attempting to smear a nurse who confronted First Minister Nicola Sturgeon live on air over the crippling 1 per cent pay cap at the Scottish leaders’ debate.

A&E nurse Claire Austin repeatedly questioned an evasive Ms Sturgeon on Sunday night over how long the public-sector pay cap had been in place, saying: “How do you expect somebody to live on that?”

She added that working in the NHS felt “demoralising” and that she’d had to rely on a foodbank.