Independent Nationalist covered in blood is cut (6)
I believe the answer is:
ignore
'cut' is the definition.
('ignore' can be a synonym of 'cut')
'independent nationalist covered in blood' is the wordplay.
'independent' becomes 'i'.
'nationalist' becomes 'n' (abbreviation in politics).
'covered in' is an insertion indicator.
'blood' becomes 'gore' ('gore' can be a synonym of 'blood'**).
'n' inserted inside 'gore' is 'gnore'.
'i'+'gnore'='IGNORE'
'is' is the link.
(Other definitions for ignore that I've seen before include "Fail to notice (6)" , "Deliberately take no notice" , "Refuse to notice or acknowledge" , "Disregard - cut" , "Send to Coventry" .)