Nicola Sturgeon 'to reflect' on appointing Gillian Martin as minister

The Scottish government has dropped Gillian Martin from its list of new government ministers over an "offensive and inappropriate" blog post.

Ms Martin, named as a junior education minister on Wednesday, wrote about "hairy knuckled, lipstick-wearing transitional transgender laydees" on her blog.

Opposition parties had questioned Ms Martin's fitness for office.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would not put her forward until she had reflected on the "ill-advised" post.