Nicola Sturgeon targets key seats on flying tour

Nicola Sturgeon on board a helicopter yesterday. Picture: Getty

The First Minister will travel to the four corners of the country as part of a final push for votes on 7 May.

Ms Sturgeon left Edinburgh by helicopter yesterday for Galashiels in the Scottish Borders. She later visited Moffat, in Dumfries and Galloway, while in the coming days her tour will take in East Lothian, Dundee, St Andrews, Stonehaven, Inverness, Portree, Glasgow and Largs before ending in Dumfries on Monday.

It comes as polls show record levels of support for the SNP. An Ipsos Mori poll for STV News found support for the nationalists at 54 per cent while Scottish Labour had slipped to 20 per cent. It means the SNP could take all 59 seats in Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon, who has been at the front and centre of the SNP campaign, said she would continue to work hard for every vote.

“I’m looking forward to taking the SNP’s positive, anti-austerity message to communities in every corner of Scotland,” she said.

“I will be spending every minute for the next week doing everything I can to win the trust of people across Scotland.

“The SNP will use our influence at Westminster to make sure every part of Scotland has a strong voice in the House of Commons, put an end to the cuts and advance progressive politics for everyone in the UK – but we can only do that with the support of people in communities across Scotland next Thursday.

“If Scotland comes together on polling day and elects a big team of SNP MPs, we can ensure Scotland speaks loudly and clearly at Westminster – with a voice that simply can’t be ignored by the establishment parties. The prospect of a strong team of SNP MPs holding unprecedented power and influence for Scotland at Westminster is now within touching distance – and today I’m asking people in every part of Scotland to unite with us and grab this historic opportunity with both hands.”

Ms Sturgeon’s first stop in Galashiels is part of the Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk constituency, where the SNP hopes to beat off competition from Conservative candidate John Lamont to unseat Liberal Democrat incumbent and former Scottish Secretary Michael Moore.

In Moffat, part of the Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale seat, the nationalists hope to oust David Mundell, the only Conservative MP in Scotland during the last parliament.

Other stops, including East Lothian, Dundee and Glasgow, will see Ms Sturgeon seek to gain support to overturn Labour majorities. Meanwhile in St Andrews in North East Fife, Stonehaven in West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Portree, in Ross, Skye and Lochaber, and in Inverness, the SNP hopes to defeat Liberal Democrats, including chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander and former party leader Charles Kennedy.