NEWSPAPER claims that Nicola Sturgeon wanted the Tories to remain in power were branded “significantly misleading” by Britain’s press watchdog yesterday.

Scotland’s First Minister complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) after the Telegraph printed the claims in the run-up to the general election.

The watchdog found the Telegraph breached its editors’ code on two counts and ordered the newspaper to print a correction on its front page.

She hailed its ruling as a “victory for effective regulation of the press and for the truth.”

The Telegraph’s front-page story on April 4 was based on a Westminster government memo leaked to the paper by the Scotland Office.

The memo contained notes of a discussion between Ms Sturgeon and French ambassador Sylvie Bermann, in which Ms Sturgeon said she would prefer David Cameron to remain PM.

While the Telegraph was entitled to report the memo, Ipso said it had published its content as fact without verifying the accuracy and had failed to give Ms Sturgeon the right to reply.

Ipso chief executive Matt Tee said: “This article was significantly misleading because the newspaper had failed to make clear that it did not know whether the account the memorandum presented was true.”

Responding to the verdict, Ms Sturgeon said she welcomed press scrutiny but “that does not mean that the press themselves are above and beyond scrutiny and oversight.”

Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael, who was Scotland secretary at the time of the leak, is now facing a potential by-election after a government investigation found he “could and should have stopped the sharing of the memo.”