THERESA May is willing to sacrifice thousands of Scottish jobs to woo over Ukip voters, Nicola Sturgeon is set to claim today.
With just one month to go until the General Election, the First Minister has stepped up her criticism of the Tory leader, effectively accusing May of being the first Ukip prime minister, more interested in picking fights with European leaders than governing.
Last Wednesday, May stood on the steps of Downing Street and declared Brussels were trying to interfere in the British election.
Europe, the Prime Minister argued, was looking to undermine her leadership and the UK’s ability to negotiate a good Brexit deal.
Sturgeon’s dismissal of that “extraordinary attack” claim comes on a busy day for the general election in Scotland. Both Ruth Davidson’s Tories and Kezia Dugdale’s Labour are launching their campaigns, while Tim Farron is north of the border zooming between LibDem target seats.
Thursday’s council results mean all parties are now solely focused on the June 8 vote, with a buoyed Scottish Tory party confident they can win over enough disaffected Labour voters to take seats off the SNP.
Sturgeon’s comments today are also a pitch to those same Labour voters, arguing that they have to choose between the SNP “standing up for Scotland” or the “chaotic hard Brexit” of the Tories.
“In the last few days, the Tory mask has slipped. There is now no doubt — they’ll sacrifice Scotland’s interests and jobs because they’re far more concerned about winning votes from Ukip,” the First Minister will say.
“Theresa May’s extraordinary attacks on our European partners demonstrate that an unchecked Tory government is prepared to pursue a chaotic hard Brexit if it is in the interests of the Tory Party, whatever the cost to Scotland.
“And even those who voted to Leave the EU should be concerned about the consequences of a hard Brexit that puts winning the votes of UKIP ahead of Scottish jobs.
“The difference between the Tories and the SNP couldn’t be clearer. They want to pick fights with Europe.
“The SNP will fight to protect the interests of the people of Scotland.”
She will add: “The evidence is mounting up that the Tories are starting to believe they can do anything to Scotland and get away with it.”
Launching her campaign in Edinburgh, Scottish Tory chief Davidson will say her party are the only ones capable of leading the fightback against the nationalists, and claims her party are the “underdogs”.
“We go into this election with one seat.
“They go into with 54 — and most of them with large majorities.
“Even to challenge the Nationalists in some of these seats is going to take a Herculean effort. Make no mistake — we are the underdogs going into this campaign.
“But we also know this, the SNP is not Scotland, and people across this country don’t take kindly to Nicola Sturgeon pretending the opposite is true. Across Scotland, it’s a two-horse race, and across Scotland, we also know people are looking for somebody to stand up to the SNP.”
The Tories, Davidson will argue, can “bring the SNP down to size, they can’t take Scotland for granted.”
In Rutherglen, Labour’s Dugdale will try to keep hold of those voters, and say a vote for her party will also send the SNP a message against a second referendum: “The Tories are the party of the ‘rape clause’ and hard Brexit. Voting Tory doesn’t send a message to Nicola Sturgeon — it sends Theresa May back to Downing Street.”
Farron will meanwhile say a vote for the SNP will elect a “cheerleader for independence,” and that voters should “opt for a local Lib Dem champion who will reject independence”.
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