UK Prime Minister Theresa May is trying to impose a hard Brexit with the announcement of a snap general election, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says.
Sturgeon accused May of using the surprise June 8 poll to seek to make the UK more right wing and "force through a hard Brexit and impose deeper cuts".
Sturgeon said on Twitter: "The Tories see a chance to move the UK to the right, force through a hard Brexit and impose deeper cuts. Let's stand up for Scotland."
In a later statement, Sturgeon described Tuesday's announcement as "one of the most extraordinary U-turns in recent political history", and said May is "once again putting the interests of her party ahead of those of the country.
"She is clearly betting that the Tories can win a bigger majority in England given the utter disarray in the Labour Party.
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"That makes it all the more important that Scotland is protected from a Tory Party which now sees the chance of grabbing control of government for many years to come and moving the UK further to the right - forcing through a hard Brexit and imposing deeper cuts in the process.
"That means that this will be - more than ever before - an election about standing up for Scotland, in the face of a right-wing, austerity-obsessed Tory government with no mandate in Scotland but which now thinks it can do whatever it wants and get away with it."
Sturgeon said it was "a huge political miscalculation" by the prime minister.
She added: "It will once again give people the opportunity to reject the Tories' narrow, divisive agenda, as well as reinforcing the democratic mandate which already exists for giving the people of Scotland a choice on their future."
