A CANDIDATE in the LibDem leadership contest has said her party should make an "emotional" case for the Union.
Layla Moran, who is running against MP Sir Ed Davey to succeed Jo Swinson, praised the Scottish party and its leader Willie Rennie for holding seats at Holyrood when the UK party was in decline.
Speaking to The Herald, Moran said next year's Holyrood election, where polls suggest the SNP could take a majority, should be used as a way of "deepening federalism".
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She said: "From our inception we spoke about federalism: the USP of the LibDems is our local approach to politics.
"At a time when people are trying to sow divisions between Scotland and England I would argue this is the time that we should have even closer co-operation.
"Coronavirus has shown us that, actually, we can work effectively together."
The leadership candidate believes the party should make an attempt to appeal to voters' sense of co-operation.
READ MORE: Conservatives don't believe claim the Union is stronger than ever
Moran criticised the handling of the constitutional argument so far by the Prime Minister and First Minister and urged other voices to get involved in the debate.
She said: "That emotional case is not being made loudly enough. The constitutional question needs to be bigger than what Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson are using against each other.
"He's saying, 'I give you all the money, you should be grateful' and she's basically saying, 'Well, we're going to go out on our own and look, we're doing so much better actually.'
"It's not one or the other."
Moran's comments come as two Panelbase polls in recent months have shown 54% of those surveyed support Scottish independence, when undecided voters are removed.
A poll yesterday also revealed that LibDem voters are more pessimistic about the Union than Labour or Tory supporters.
In a YouGov survey of more than 3000 UK voters, some 78% of LibDem voters said the Union was a bit or much weaker than it was five years ago.
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