The National:

THE Scottish Tories have left the Scottish electorate absolutely shocked and stunned by their latest campaign pledge.

The party released a statement from their shadow local government secretary Miles Briggs (below) this morning with a policy that bamboozled political commentators across the country.

“We will stand no candidates who are pro-independence”, the MSP promised in the press release.

The National:

If this isn’t further evidence that the party has nothing to offer beyond just being anti-independence, we don’t know what is. But thank you for stating the obvious.

Briggs’s intervention came after it was reported that Scottish Labour would be considering running candidates who are open to indyref2 in the coming local elections.

Because the Scottish Conservatives and Unionist Party is so set against voters having the right to choose their country’s future, this was enough to send them into a tailspin.

Responding to Anas Sarwar’s party – who, by the way, have form for dropping candidates speaking favourably about indyref2 – Briggs fumed: “On the central question facing the future of our country because of the nationalists’ never-ending obsession, every Scottish Conservative candidate will have a clear stance in favour of sticking together as one United Kingdom.

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“We will stand no candidates who are pro-independence.

“Scottish Labour may have given up on expecting its candidates to stand against independence, but Scottish Conservatives won’t stop fighting for Scotland’s place in our United Kingdom.”

In the comments, Briggs also accused the SNP of planning to “use every pro-independence councillor elected as an argument in favour of division”.

Interesting. So far, it seems like only the Unionist parties are making the upcoming local elections into a constitutional issue …