A PLANNED speaking event by a pro-independence campaigner at a school has been cancelled, after Tory politicians complained.

Blogger and iScot columnist Jason Michael McCann was due to appear at a Yes Eastwood event at Mearns Castle High School in Newton Mearns on March 6.

However, Eastwood MSP Jackson Carlaw wrote to the chief executive of East Renfrewshire Council calling for the event to be cancelled because of “distasteful” comments Mr McCann had made.

In a series of Twitter posts, Mr McCann wrote: “British soldiers returned to the streets of Northern Ireland. Good Friday Agreement now utterly defunct. Without peace, as the rules of war have it, these British soldiers are now legitimate targets.”

The blogger, who lives in Dublin and is a member of Sinn Féin, also referred to the poppy as a “bloodied weed”.

Mr Carlaw said: “Giving an individual who has made distasteful comments on these lines a public speaking platform within a council owned building, let alone a school, would have been hugely inappropriate.”

Councillor Jim Swift said: “This is someone who has condoned sectarian violence, which arguably might be interpreted by some as support for terrorism.”

Mr McCann said: “The organisers have done brilliant work. But considering the pressure that has been put on them over this talk, I fully understand their decision.”