DOUGLAS Ross launched the Scottish Tory election campaign this morning with a call for supporters to “rediscover the Better Together spirit”.
It comes after the latest Scottish Parliament voting intentions poll put the SNP on course for a majority, with the Tories set to fall into third place behind Labour.
The poll from Survation, carried out for DC Thomson, found the party would win just 22 seats – down nine on the 31 it secured in 2016.
READ MORE: Holyrood election 2021: SNP on course for majority as Tories fall back, poll shows
Speaking at the campaign event in Aberdeen today, Ross called for “pro-UK voters” to back his party to “defeat the SNP’s campaign for separation”.
During First Minister’s Questions yesterday, before the Parliament was dissolved for the election cycle, Nicola Sturgeon vowed to hold a new Scottish independence referendum if Scots vote for one.
In a response to criticism from the Scottish Tory Holyrood group leader, Sturgeon said: “There will be another independence referendum if the people of Scotland vote for an independence referendum. It is, Presiding Officer, called democracy, which I know is a principle that Ruth Davidson perhaps does not recognise these days as she might have done one day.”
Ross used today’s campaign push to position the Tories as the strongest Unionist party. The reference to Better Together calls back to the 2014 No campaign, which included the Tories, Labour and LibDems.
Labour’s decision to work alongside the Tories has long been seen as a mistake and a contributing factor in their poor electoral performance in Scotland since.
In January, Ross extended a hand to Labour with the intention of working with the other Unionist parties to block an SNP win.
But Anas Sarwar, then a candidate for the leadership position, ruled out such a move.
He responded to Ross’s request: “No, I won’t. A quarter of Scottish kids are growing up in poverty while you and the SNP divide our country.
“Instead I will focus on bringing people together and rebuilding our country – not a return to the divisive politics of old.”
READ MORE: Scottish Labour drop Holyrood candidate after she backed indyref2
However, since becoming leader, Sarwar has made his anti-independence stance clear.
Hollie Cameron, who was standing for Labour in the Glasgow Kelvin constituency, was dropped by the party after suggesting indyref2 could take place in the next parliamentary term.
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