DOUGLAS Ross has insisted he can be the next first minister of Scotland - despite polls predicting the SNP will win more than TWICE as many Holyrood seats as the Tories.
The Moray MP told the Sun: “Nicola Sturgeon went into the 2016 election with a majority SNP government and came out of it without one.
“That was due to the Scottish Conservatives increasing their number of MSPs to 31.”
According to Ballot Box Scotland analysis of a poll by Savanta ComRes, published yesterday, the SNP are on course to win 67 seats at next year's election. The Tories are predicted to to win 26, Labour 18, the Greens 10, and the Lib Dems eight.
Asked if he’d campaign like Ruth Davidson in 2016 to be a “Stronger Opposition," he said: “There is no point in getting involved in politics if you don’t think you can achieve the ultimate office.
“I believe next May I’ll have a strong manifesto, a strong team, and we want to get the highest office to be able to implement these policies.”
He said that a series of polls predicting majority support for independence were “telling a story”, adding: “Nicola Sturgeon’s been clear herself that this is at a time when she’s not speaking about independence. It’s when she is dealing with a pandemic.”
However, Ross refused to say if indyref2 should be blocked if the SNP win a majority at next year’s election.
He told the paper: “The SNP’s white paper in 2014, said this was a ‘once in a generation’ event. Six years is not a generation.”
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