A FORMER Carrick Academy pupil who backs Brexit and supports Scottish independence surprised some of her old school teachers when she turned up on BBC’s Question Time.

Local Maybole lass Eilidh Douglas joined Deputy First Minister John Swinney and Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard as a commentator on the top political discussion show last Thursday – after recent invitations onto the new BBC Scotland channel’s Seven Days show.

And the 27-year-old Edinburgh University graduate Eilidh – who also serves as vice chair of Amnesty International UK while working as a solicitor in the Scottish capital – slated The Jeremy Kyle Show’s human rights record and told the audience: “I’m glad it’s off air and I hope it never comes back.”

Conservative-minded Eilidh also found herself questioned by Fiona Bruce on both backing Brexit and support for Scottish independence, saying: “I support independence because I think decisions should be made as close to the people of Scotland as possible.”

After the broadcast, Eilidh Douglas told the Ayr Advertiser: “It was scary but enjoyable. It’s a bit of a jump from doing the news roundup on the Seven Days sofa to appearing beside Fiona Bruce and the Deputy First Minister.

“I’ve had a couple of old teachers from Carrick drop me a line to say that they caught me on the telly, which was lovely, they all seemed quite happy to see a familiar face.

“[My wife] Ashley is delighted as are my mum and dad.

“It’s quite nice that the new BBC Scotland channel are keen to get people involved who aren’t established commentators and politicians and get new voices out there. If you’ve got a keyboard and an opinion you can get that out there on Twitter. Thats’s how the BBC first got in touch – because they thought I had something good to say.

“The Jeremy Kyle thing really got to me. I do some pro bono work in the sheriff courts in Edinburgh, and it’s rooms full of some of the most vulnerable folk you’re ever going to meet.

“Their lives are falling apart and these are the people the producers were tapping up. They should be getting support in the first place, not just because they’ve agreed to bare their private lives on TV.

“I’m glad it’s gone and I hope we’re going to be a bit more compassionate.”