Ruth Davidson: Our titanic battle to oust Angus Robertson
The Scottish Tory leader said defeating the high-profile Nationalist, who leads the SNP at Westminster, would be “a real Ed Balls moment for Scotland”.
After making a speech in Edinburgh, Ms Davidson claimed her party would benefit from Brexit voters in Mr Robertson’s Moray constituency as well as “furious” pro-UK Remainers. Ms Davidson said there were many pro-UK and pro-EU voters who were angered that the SNP had “hi-jacked” their Remain vote to campaign for Scottish independence. “It is a very pro-Union part of the country and as you know it was one of the most pro-Brexit areas of Scotland,” the Scottish Tory leader said. “I also think for those people - the 50.1 per cent of people in Moray that voted Remain – similar to the thousands of people across Scotland that voted Remain that are also pro-Union- they are really angry. I don’t think anybody in the press has actually cottoned on as to how angry pro-UK Remainers are that Nicola Sturgeon, Angus Robertson and others have hi-jacked their Remain vote to be a proxy vote for independence. They are furious about it.” She added: “Should Angus Robertson fall it is a real Ed Balls moment for Scotland.” Two years ago the loss of his Morley and Outwood seat by the then Shadow Chancellor was seen as a potent symbol of Labour’s failure under Ed Miliband. Speaking after addressing activists ahead of Thursday’s local election, Ms Davidson praised Douglas Ross, the Tory standing against Mr Robertson, as one of the party’s best campaigners”. Ms Davidson also said she would “love” to see the Tory Ian Duncan defeat the veteran Nationalist Pete Wishart in Perth and North Perthshire. Earlier Ms Davidson joked that Nicola Sturgeon was the “Nat out of hell” referring to a campaign trail picture of the SNP leader on a motorbike “festooned” with Yes stickers.