BORIS Johnson and other top Tories will be joining the Scottish Tories in their election campaign to try and boost their party’s ailing fortunes, Douglas Ross has said.
However, Ross reneged on previous promises that Johnson would be visiting Scotland in person, instead saying it is not yet possible to say how he will be involved.
He had previously twice told the BBC’s Sunday Show: “The Prime Minister will be up here.”
Speaking to reporters today, Ross said: “We can’t determine in this campaign when or if senior members of the government at UK level are going to be able to come up to Scotland to campaign. But they will play a part in this campaign.
READ MORE: Douglas Ross 'dropped to the subs bench' as Scots Tories draft in Ruth Davidson
“Whether it’s virtual or whether it’s commentary, explaining the outstanding rollout of the vaccine process here in Scotland and across the UK or articulating the message of business support protecting people’s jobs, that will all happen.”
The Scottish Tory leader said he didn’t know if the Prime Minister would visit, suggesting the ongoing pandemic would affect travel.
He said: “Whether it’s coming up here to physically speak to one or two people that they’re allowed in a room with, or doing it virtually, or doing it some other way, that’s still got to be discussed and decided upon.
“I’m just trying to be as upfront as I can be in this very uncertain election where nothing is playing by the normal rules.”
The Prime Minister came under heavy fire after making a trip to Scotland in January for photo opportunities his government insisted were essential.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson visited Valneva vaccine lab despite being warned of Covid outbreak
It later emerged that one of the sites Johnson visited had warned Downing Street they were experiencing a Covid outbreak, but the trip went ahead regardless.
Johnson, the self-appointed Minister for the Union, was one of the headline speakers at the Scottish Tory conference in March.
A Survation poll on April 1 found that Johnson has the most negative favourability rating of any of the main political leaders, with the exception of Alex Salmond.
Around one-quarter (24%) of Scots view the Prime Minister positively, compared to more than half (56%) who view him negatively.
However, Ross insisted that Johnson would be an asset to the Scottish Tories.
Ross (below) went on: “People would expect that we will be promoting what the UK Government has done throughout this pandemic.”
He said this would include the furlough scheme and “of course the vaccination programme with more than two and a half million people in Scotland having received the first dose”.
“That is a success story in Scotland because it’s part of the United Kingdom. You will be hearing it from government ministers at high up level during this campaign.
“However, I am the leader of the party in Scotland, it’s our campaign. It’s our message, it’s our manifesto. I think that’s what people want to hear … what those who are seeking to be elected to the Scottish Parliament would actually deliver.”
READ MORE: Covid may have got Scots thinking about independence benefits, Nicola Sturgeon says
Nicola Sturgeon has rejected the idea that the success of Scotland’s vaccination programme is down to being part of the UK, calling the argument “facile and actually kind of insulting”.
Sturgeon added: “The vaccination roll-out is a tribute to the brilliance of our scientists and the utter magnificence of the NHS operation to get it into people’s arms.
“Yes, we procure on a UK basis, and the UK has successfully procured, but the idea that that would have been different if either the UK had still been in the EU or Scotland had been independent just doesn’t really bear any scrutiny.”
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