THERESA May is “feart” to debate General Election issues on television with other party leaders, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said yesterday.

Speaking on ITV’s Peston On Sunday programme, Sturgeon had a dig at the Prime Minister’s recent reference to “boys and girls jobs” by saying she was getting on with “the girl job of running the country” before asserting that May has refused to take part in television debates out of fear.

The First Minister will take part in an ITV leaders’ debate on Thursday.

She said: “If I can use a Scottish word, it kind of looks as if she’s feart, which means frightened, of the scrutiny.

“Doing TV appearances like The One Show is all perfectly legitimate but not as a substitute for hard questions and hard scrutiny, so I’ll be delighted to put myself into that debate on Thursday.

Theresa May seems to want to go through this election dodging the public, dodging any real questions.

“There’s been reports that the media have to submit their questions in advance so I will challenge her today – change your mind, come and join us on Thursday.

“I’d say the same to Jeremy Corbyn – let’s have a proper debate where we all put forward our policies and we are all subject to scrutiny, and hard questions as well.”

On both the ITV show and BBC’s Andrew Marr programme, the First Minister came under tough questioning on Europe and education.

On Brexit, she told Andrew Marr that “by necessity” Scotland might have to pursue membership of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) before achieving full EU membership.

She said: “If Scotland is independent, our position always has been, as long as I’ve been in the SNP and continues to be, that we want Scotland to be a full member of the European Union.

“We don’t want to go into the euro and no member of the EU can be forced into the euro, and Sweden is one of the examples of that.

“Now we have to set out, if we’re in an independence referendum – and we’re not in that right now – the process for regaining or retaining, depending on where we are in the Brexit process, EU membership.

“Now it may be that we have a phased approach to that by necessity.”

Jackson Carlaw, Scottish Conservative and Unionist deputy leader, responded by saying: “She claims we must have a referendum on independence because we’re leaving the EU. Now, in a cynical attempt to win back Leave voters who have deserted the SNP, she now refuses to say whether an independent Scotland would go back in.”

Meanwhile, Sturgeon is expected to say that an SNP victory in the General Election in Scotland would give her a mandate to demand that the Scottish Government is included at the Brexit negotiating table.

She will be campaigning in Hamilton today with Lanark and Hamilton East candidate Angela Crawley following yesterday’s whistle-stop tour of TV stations in London.

“Now, more than ever, it is vital to have strong SNP voices standing up for Scotland,” she will say. “Only then can we stop the Tories at Westminster bartering away Scotland’s jobs and industries in Brexit negotiations.

“This election is not about giving Theresa May a free hand, it’s about strengthening Scotland’s hand, strengthening Scotland’s hand against an unchecked Tory government at Westminster, strengthening Scotland’s hand in Brexit negotiations and strengthening our right to take our own decisions.”