SCOTTISH Conservative leader Ruth Davidson will ask Labour and Liberal Democrat voters to back the Tories at next May’s Scottish Parliament election.

In a speech to the Conservative Party conference she will say both Scottish Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats are embarrassed by their role in campaigning for the No vote in last year’s independence referendum.

Davidson, who received something of a star’s welcome at the Tory party conference in Manchester this year, will be acting as Prime Minister David Cameron’s warm-up today.

In her speech Davidson is expected to set out how her party will target regional list seats at the election. The Tories currently have 12 list MSPs and three constituency MSPs. They have been buoyed by polls and council by-elections showing a swing to the party.

Davidson is expected to say: “In May, many Scottish Conservative voters supported other pro-UK parties in the hope of stopping the SNP. I can tell you there are two reasons why this will not happen next year. Firstly, because Labour and the LibDems now seem to be embarrassed by their support for Scotland’s place in the UK. And secondly it’s because next year every single vote counts.”

She will add: “As the head of our campaign, I have made it clear to my team that I want to target the regional list vote next year. For so long as the SNP refuses to rule out another referendum, our message for voters looking to cast that second vote is clear – whichever party you support, use that vote intelligently. If you’re one of the two million people who voted No in last year’s referendum, use it as your intelligent vote for the Union.”

Labour’s only Scottish MP Ian Murray said: “The Tories have broken their promises to be on the side of working families, cutting the tax credits many rely on.

“These cuts have been branded the new poll tax by senior Tories. Ruth Davidson shouldn’t need reminding how disastrous that policy was for the Tories in Scotland.”