NICOLA Sturgeon has welcomed the suspension of the Tory activist who mocked the First Minister’s miscarriage.

Speaking to Clyde News, the leader described the comments as “hurtful”.

Sturgeon said she had been contacted by others who said the cruel remarks had stirred up painful memories of their own baby loss.

On Wednesday we told of how Jane Lax, the party’s treasurer in Moray, had traded so-called jokes about the SNP leader’s miscarriage with other unionists on Twitter.

The Tories then suspended her and promised she would be subject to a “disciplinary procedure”.

It all started when the anonymous twitter account, Agent P shared an interview in which Sturgeon detailed the abuse she receives online.

Replying, Georgina Sparrow, a retired midwife from Dumfrieshire with a record of organising pro-union campaigns, tweeted: “Has she mentions [sic] her fictional miscarriage yet?”

Lax then replied: “Is that when she dropped a book?”

She then posted three laughing emojis.

The exchange has shocked the country.

Responding to the row for the first time yesterday, the First Minister said: “I absolutely think that it’s right for her to be suspended.

“Obviously these comments are hurtful and not just hurtful and painful to me and people close to me, but I’ve been contacted by women who’ve also suffered miscarriage and these kind of comments also stir up hurtful and painful feelings in others as well.

“I welcome that she’s been suspended. I don’t particularly want to talk too much about what she said as I don’t want to dignify it with a response.

“I would say more generally though, that for anyone who finds their political disagreement with somebody leading to making such offensive comment really needs to take a long hard look at themselves and really think about what kind of person they are.

“Hopefully she will learn from this.”

While Lax hasn’t spoken publicly about the row, a Scottish Tory spokesman says she is extremely apologetic.

Lax - who was out campaigning with the party just days ago - was at the centre of a storm earlier this year when she was one four Tories in the audience for an edition of Question Time broadcast from Elgin.

She is a prolific tweeter, with over 13,000 tweets to her name and some high profile supporters.

Incredibly, a number of influential unionist accounts continued to defend her.

Alan Thomson, tweeted: “I think the tweet from @Janela_X was a very minor transgression compared to the daily vile abuse perpetrated by the Nats.

“So I hope that the @ScotTories will reinstate her membership quickly.”

SNP MSP Gail Ross has, meanwhile, warned Ruth Davidson not to sweep the disciplinary process under the carpet.

“This was appalling behaviour, and Ms Lax should be ashamed,” she said.

“No politician should have to face these vile comments, and it’s sickening to see this kind of attitude rearing its head within the Scottish Tory party again.

“This case cannot be swept under the carpet – the Scottish Tories must make the outcome of their disciplinary procedure public.”

A spokesman for the Tories replied: “As soon as the party was made aware of this tweet, Mrs Lax was suspended and she immediately resigned her treasurer role.

“If only the SNP was similarly serious about dealing with its members’ Twitter behaviour.”

Sturgeon revealed in 2016 that she and husband Peter Murrell had lost a baby while she was serving as deputy First Minister.

In an interview for the book, Scottish National Party Leaders, she spoke about how she suffered a miscarriage when she was 40, shortly before the 2011 Scottish parliamentary election campaign period.

In a statement released following the publication of extracts from the book in the Sunday Times magazine, the first minister said: “There are many reasons why women don’t have children. Some of us simply don’t want to, some of us worry about the impact on our career – and there is still so much to do, through better childcare, more progressive working practices and more enlightened attitudes, to make sure we don’t feel we have to choose.

“And sometimes, for whatever reason, having a baby just doesn’t happen – no matter how much we might want it to.

She added: “For me, as for many women, all of these things have been true at different times of my life – the point is that judgements and assumptions shouldn’t be made about what are personal choices and experiences.”