Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has pledged to discipline SNP members responsible for sending online abuse

Nicola Sturgeon has dramatically intervened in the battle against online trolls by pledging to discipline those SNP members responsible for spreading poisonous abuse.

The First Minister vowed to help clean up Scottish politics after this newspaper unmasked some of the country’s most vile cybernats.

Writing exclusively for the Scottish Daily Mail, the SNP leader said the time had come to ‘send a clear message that politics in Scotland will not be sullied by this behaviour’.

She also called on politicians who ‘follow’ online abusers to ‘stop feeding the trolls’. A Mail investigation has found that 72 Nationalist MPs and MSPs, including ministers and senior party figures, have online links with cybernats responsible for some of the worst abuse in public life.

We have also uncovered hundreds of offensive tweets from SNP members who are responsible for infecting politics with threats, vile abuse and racist and homophobic taunts.

The findings come only a day after the Mail revealed that the First Minister engaged on Twitter with a cybernat who uses obscene language against women and has threatened two Labour MPs with physical violence.

After our disclosures, Miss Sturgeon severed her online links with three cybernats.

Yesterday, after The Mail handed a dossier highlighting cybernat abuse to the party hierarchy, the First Minister said: ‘The SNP will take steps to warn those whose behaviour falls short of the standards that we expect.

‘We will tell them to raise their standard of debate, to stick to issues, not personalities and to ensure robust and passionate debate takes precedence over abuse and intemperate language.

‘And I am also making clear that, where appropriate, we will take disciplinary action.’

In a clear message to her own MPs and MSPs, Miss Sturgeon added: ‘We must ensure that as politicians we set a good example and debate the issues, not the insults.

Raising the standard of debate is a responsibility across the board and I urge all parties to do as we have done – to say clearly that crossing the line will not be tolerated. And then we should all stop feeding the trolls.’

Alongside Miss Sturgeon, some MPs and MSPs have already started severing their online links with some of the worst abusers.

Our probe found that 44 of the SNP’s 56 MPs have ‘followed’ Twitter accounts responsible for internet bile, including anti-English and homophobic comments, alongside 28 of the party’s 64 MSPs.

Targets have included openly gay Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson and Labour’s former Shadow Scottish Secretary Margaret Curran, who yesterday laid bare the devastating impact of online abuse in a powerful article for the Mail.

The row over cybernats has exploded in recent weeks after we revealed that Brian Smith, then convener of the SNP’s Skye and Lochalsh branch, sent vile online messages to the late Charles Kennedy, branding him ‘a Quisling’ and ‘a drunken slob’.

The row over cybernats has exploded in recent weeks after it was revealed that Brian Smith, then convener of the SNP’s Skye and Lochalsh branch, sent vile online messages to the late Charles Kennedy

Mr Smith quit the party on the day of Mr Kennedy’s funeral but a different troll, who mocked the ex-Lib Dem leader by suggesting voters should put empty whisky bottles rather than posters in their windows, is still followed by a number of MPs and MSPs.

Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland has also warned that people who post obscene comments may find themselves facing criminal prosecution – exactly as if they had said the same in public, adding: ‘If it’s a crime on the street, it’s a crime online.’

Miss Sturgeon’s intervention means the challenge to clean up Scottish politics now has strong cross-party support.

Miss Davidson said: ‘Next May, we vote in the most important Scottish parliamentary election since devolution. Let’s eschew the personal attacks and make it a battle of ideas.

‘Let’s debate how to improve our public services; how to better our education system; how to ensure the NHS is equipped to deal with the demands of the 21st century.

‘And let’s do so properly – in a manner that does Scotland proud.’

Both openly gay Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson, left, and Labour’s former Shadow Scottish Secretary Margaret Curran, right, have been targeted by online abuse

Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie said: ‘Some people are of the view that the online abuse that emerged in the course of the referendum and has persisted since then is simply part of the cost of doing business in Scottish politics these days.

This is something Charles Kennedy would never have accepted and I do not think it is something any of us should concede. As a country we need to be better than that.’

Scottish Labour leadership candidate Kezia Dugdale said: ‘Tackling the cybernats is not just a matter of internal discipline, it means tempering rhetoric and showing respect for opponents. My message to anybody who supports Labour is very simple – if you want to abuse people online, then you aren’t welcome in our party.’

Yesterday, a leading lawyer said someone who posts grossly offensive tweets could be prosecuted for a breach of the peace or under the 2003 Communications Act.

Campbell Deane, a partner with Bannatyne Kirkwood France & Co in Glasgow, said: ‘It states that a person is guilty of an offence if he or she “sends by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character”.’

‘The abuse must stop… and I’ll make sure my party tackles it’ writes NICOLA STURGEON

The First Minister has vowed to help clean up Scottish politics after the Scottish Daily Mail unmasked some of the country’s most vile cybernats

When I became First Minister I said I wanted to lead one of the most accessible governments in the world. My personal use of Twitter is an important part of that accessibility.

Since I joined Twitter, I have sent more than 10,500 tweets and I have received thousands more. Some of those responses are enthusiastic, engaging positively with my views on politics, books, tennis, The X Factor and a whole range of other issues besides.

Others disagree with me. Sometimes that disagreement is measured, polite and thoughtful. On other occasions it is abusive and sometimes it is simply vile.

Frankly, the level of abuse directed at me online on any given day would make people’s hair stand on end were they to see it. I choose to simply ignore it, but that doesn’t mean that online comments which cross the line of decency are acceptable.

Where political disagreement is passionate and robust, open, honest and conducted with respect, it is welcome. Even where views are expressed using language that I wouldn’t use, I accept that – after all, that’s in the nature of free speech.

But where people use Twitter to threaten violence, or hurl vile abuse, or seek to silence the voice of others through intimidation, that is not acceptable – and we must all say so loudly and clearly.

Just like every other politician, I volunteered to be in public life and with that comes an acceptance of public criticism. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me – it would be a dull world if they did.

Robust political debate is part of our public life and we must cherish it, even when it takes place in terms or in language we might not personally use.

But what simply cannot be tolerated is the lowering of our political debate to threats of violence, or to insults and abuse based on misogyny, homophobia, sexism, racism or disability.

No one should be subject to threats or abuse of that nature as a result of sharing their views, whether they do so in a parliament, a pub or on the internet.

A few months ago, appalling homophobic and misogynistic comments were made about Tory leader Ruth Davidson. They were unacceptable. I said so publicly and my party acted against the person responsible. And we will not shirk from those decisions in future.

Obviously, I can’t police Twitter single-handedly. I follow 3,500 people and am followed by almost 230,000 – I can’t personally keep track of everything that is said.

But when tweets or postings from SNP members that cross the line are brought to our attention, we will act – as we have done before.

That is why I am making clear today that the SNP will take steps to warn those whose behaviour falls short of the standards we expect.

We will tell them to raise their standard of debate, to stick to issues, not personalities, and to ensure robust and passionate debate takes precedence over abuse and intemperate language.

Miss Sturgeon’s intervention means the challenge to clean up Scottish politics now has strong cross-party support

And I am also making clear that, where appropriate, we will take disciplinary action. In the SNP we have a code of conduct and online guidance for our members.

Where that code is broken, members should have no doubt that we will use our disciplinary processes.

Of course, anyone who suggests that Twitter abuse is one-way traffic is wrong. It spans the political spectrum. That is why, across all parties, we must send out a clear message that politics in Scotland will not be sullied by this behaviour. We must ensure that as politicians we set a good example and debate the issues not the insults.

Raising the standard of debate is a responsibility across the board and I urge all parties to do as we have done – to say clearly that crossing the line will not be tolerated.

And then we should all stop feeding the trolls. The fact is that internet and social media is a huge positive for our political culture and a tiny minority should not be allowed to destroy that.

Amid the stories of cyber-bullying and abuse, the lurid headlines and the partisan outrage, we must remember that the opportunity the internet provides for a broader range of opinions to be heard is something precious.

Just as the first printing press in the 15th century opened up opportunities for learning, debate and democracy, so the internet has brought fresh opportunities for the 21st century.

From pro-democracy movements in the Middle East to campaigns such as ‘everyday sexism’ here at home, the internet provides a platform to share experiences that otherwise wouldn’t be heard.