Scottish election 2021: Tories make bid for all 'pro-union voters' to stop independence referendum

Douglas Ross has urged “pro-union voters” to vote Conservative, even if they have never done so before, to stop an SNP majority in Holyrood, as he launched his party’s manifesto.

Mr Ross said that while his manifesto “sets out the issues that the Scottish Conservatives will fight for in the next Parliament”, recovery from Covid could not be achieved with “the threat of independence on the table”.

As a result, he said, people who have never thought of themselves as Conservative or Tory voters would need to vote tactically to ensure there was no second referendum.

“Only the Scottish Conservatives have the strength across the country to stop the SNP from winning a majority and wrecking our recovery with a second referendum,” he said.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross launches a "Rebuilding Roadmap" and election pledge card.

“Labour and the Liberal Democrats believe that they can just wish the threat of a second referendum away, that after the election, Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP will just give up on their life-long obsession.

“We know that nationalists will never do that. We offered in good faith to work with other parties, but they are intent on ignoring the elephant in the room. Anas Sarwar and Keir Starmer will not even say if they will oppose an independence referendum the day after the election.

“So, it falls upon us. To take the fight to the SNP and say no to their plans to wreck our recovery, to get our Scottish Parliament 100 per cent focused on the task of rebuilding our country after the pandemic. We can do this together.

“If pro-UK voters unite behind the Scottish Conservatives, then we can stop an SNP majority. We have done it before. So, let’s now come together in the national interest.”

Responding to Mr Ross’s claims, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the Tory party had a “record of shame” in government, and that “Douglas Ross like Nicola Sturgeon, is not interested in uniting the country”.

He said: "They are deliberately talking up division for their own political purposes.

“We cannot trust the Tories to deliver a national recovery that works for everyone. We also can’t trust them to stand up to the SNP – at the last election they promised us a strong opposition and, in that time, have given us Boris and Brexit and things are so bad that even Ruth Davidson has walked away.”

Scottish Lib Dems leader Willie Rennie said voters who had backed Ruth Davidson’s Tories should switch to his party as they were not “attracted to the party led by Douglas Ross and Boris Johnson”.

“There is a home with my Liberal Democrats for all these people who now feel politically homeless because of the departure of Ruth Davidson,” he said. “I oppose another independence referendum and am offering an open, optimistic vision for the country.”

SNP depute leader Keith Brown said Mr Ross’s stance was “utterly undemocratic”.

"It’s clear that he and his party have no route through the pandemic, no vision for recovery, no ambition, no intention of setting out a detailed plan on how they would run Scotland and offer no leadership,” he said.

"That is irresponsible and disrespectful to voters, who deserve better from the Tories than a long list of things they are against and virtually nothing about what they are for."

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