The Liberal Democrats have given up on winning in Gordon and expect Alex Salmond to take the seat, according to an off the record briefing from party officials.
Liberal Democrat officials told The Guardian that they were “gloomy” about Gordon and Charles Kennedy’s seat Ross, Skye and Lochaber, where Ian
Blackford is standing for the SNP.
The SNP in the area claim that the Liberal Democrats campaign in the north east is confused and collapsing. The party have apparently poured more money into Sir Bob Smith’s seat of West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, which the SNP claim, the Lib Dems have conceded to the Tories as part of an arrangement on tactical voting.
SNP MSP for North East Scotland, Christian Allard commented: “The Liberals are in chaos here in the North East of Scotland.
“Party officials are writing off Christine Jardine’s hopes in Gordon, which we thought Nick Clegg said they were going to win, while at the same time they’re redoubling efforts in West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine which they’ve already conceded to the Tories as part of a tactical voting cartel.
“The Lib Dems have no credibility left after propping up a
Tory government at Westminster over the last five years. Their support in the North East is melting away as fast as the April snow we saw earlier this week.
“Next Thursday, Aberdeenshire will go to the polls on a positive prospectus of more powers for Scotland, not on some cynical, desperate scheme cooked up by Clegg and Cameron.”
The Liberal Democrats encouraged tactical voting in the eleven seats they held at the last election. Voters who voted no in the referendum have been encouraged to vote Lib Dem to keep the SNP out. However,
Ruth Davidson has said that Conservative voters should keep on voting Conservative.
A Scottish Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: "This hysterical attack has boomeranged badly on the SNP. People will be astonished that the SNP seem to be rather arrogantly booking victory parties before people have even voted."
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