THE Scottish Conservatives should stand aside and let the Liberal Democrats take their votes for the sake of the UK, says Willie Rennie.

Rennie said that his party’s 11 seats were all a straight fight between the Liberal Democrats and the SNP.

Rennie’s call came as he was campaigning in North East Fife.That seat was, until his resignation this year, held by Sir Menzies Campbell, and should, traditionally, be a safe Liberal Democrat seat. Rennie has admitted that it the fight for the this seat is “close”.

“Just the other day the Scottish Conservative leader was visiting North East Fife claiming they can win,” Rennie said. “It’s a seat the bookies say is a close race between the Liberal Democrats and the SNP. The Tories are also rans. The only result of their actions would be to divide the non-SNP vote and let the SNP win.”

Rennie continued: “Thankfully, many traditional Conservatives are ignoring the overtures from the Conservative Party. In increasing numbers they are backing the local Liberal Democrats to stop the SNP.”By refusing to engage in tactical voting Rennie said that the Conservatives had “put their own interests ahead of that of the United Kingdom.”

The Liberal Democrat leader also blamed David Cameron for the situation the Better Together parties now find themselves after he pursued English votes for English laws: “Instead of healing the nation after a fractious referendum he inflamed the situation.

This only helped to fuel the rise of support for the SNP.”Speaking on Monday Ruth Davidson said the Liberal Democrats faced a “wipe-out” with Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael, “the last man standing”. 

Meanwhile Muhammed Shoaib, the former SNP member who defected to the Labour Party last week, has been condemned by leading members of Scotland’s Sikh and Muslim communities for using “racist”  and “divisive” language.Gurdip Singh Samra, from the Glasgow Gurdwara, said Shoaib’s comments “did not represent the Asian community at all”.

He said: “We must all be careful with what we state and to imply that Asian candidates are 'coconuts' is firstly wrong and secondly could be seen as being a racist and divisive comment." 

Calling for Shoaib to be disciplined, Samra said: “The Labour party should have a zero-tolerance policy towards comments like these and be seen to bring our community and their needs forward in the best possible light rather than to make outrageous comments about Asian Candidates from the SNP. Who is Mr Shoaib, or Labour, to decide who is a pure Pakistani, Sikh or Hindu and who are 'coconuts'?”Hafiz Shafiq,a Teacher at Glasgow Central Mosque said: “Strong action should be taken to discourage and condemn comments like these as they are racist.”The Labour Party have yet to respond to requests to comment.  

And the Green Party of England and Wales launched its manifesto yesterday with a commitment to govern “for the common good”.

The party’s key policies include plans to renationalise the railways, curb carbon emissions and reverse the “creeping privatisation” of the NHS.  They would also raise the top rate of income tax to 60p and increase the minimum wage to a living wage of at least £10.The manifesto also included a plan for a free nationwide home insulation programme.

The Greens also restated their commitment to scrap the Trident nuclear weapons.  Caroline Lucas, the leader of the Greens said that she was hopeful of forming a progressive alliance with Labour and the SNP.

Lucas said: “That would give us a real opportunity to push Labour on the policies we know the public wants and which are at the heart of our manifesto - whether that’s scrapping nuclear weapons or reversing the privatisation in our NHS, whether that’s returning local schools to local control or bringing rail back into public ownership.”