TWO-faced Tory candidates in the suburbs of London have been caught trying to win votes among the Tamil community, promising a “two-state” solution to the troubles in Sri Lanka.

The so-called two-state solution refers to a separate Tamil state – Eelam – in the northern and eastern parts of the divided island.

Whilst prominent Tories are out on the campaign trail, offering Tamil voters the promise of a homeland whilst implacably refusing to countenance a referendum on Scottish independence.

The controversial manifesto pledge on international tensions says: “We will continue to support international initiatives to achieve reconciliation, stability and justice across the world, and in current or former conflict zones such as Cyprus, Sri Lanka and the Middle East, where we maintain our support for a two-state solution.”

The wording is at best clumsy and at worst highlights the double standards at the heart of the Tory campaign. They are happy to attract votes among Tamil migrant communities down south, whilst saying the exact opposite to Scots north of the Border, where their election campaign has been predicated on blocking an independence referendum.

Those close to the controversy suspect the influence of Theresa Villiers the MP for Chipping Barnet, a North London constituency with a significant Tamil population.

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She is a leading figure within British Tamil Conservatives, a right-of-centre support group mostly comprised of Tamil businessmen and members of the medical community.

The group and its aims are also supported by Jackie Doyle-Price, MP for Thurrock and Conservative chairman James Cleverly.

Some suspect that in order to garner votes in their own backyards, Villiers and Cleverly may have over-cooked the Tory manifesto for local purposes.

The majority of Tamils in the UK came either as economic migrants or as refugees from the island’s 25-year-long civil war, which claimed the lives of more than 100,000 civilians.

Sutton and Cheam MP Paul Scully is chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils and represents the suburbs south of Tooting in London, which has historically one of the biggest Tamil populations.

As a former local councillor, he is sensitive to the diversity of the area. Yesterday he tried to dampen the controversy claiming that the badly worded initiative only “referred to the Middle East”.

The Tories seem to have made promises they cannot deliver and which are inconsistent with their opposition to either “a two-state” or federal solution in the UK.

Their resistance to independence for Scotland has cast them in a hypocritical light.

Whatever the outcome of the controversy it has already provoked two very different responses.

The Sri Lankan government, which voted in a new president only a week ago, are incandescent with rage.

Controversially, the new president is Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the former military leader who prosecuted the bloody end to the army’s long-standing war with the Tamil Tigers.

The final days of the war were marred by accusations of war crimes, and pressure for meaningful reconciliation is still a key demand of the international community.

The last thing the new presidency needs is yet another international standoff over the island’s most febrile issue – the creation of a Tamil homeland to the north.

In Scotland the Tory’s clumsy policy risks a different issue entirely.

The SNP and supporters of independence will either see hypocrisy or a break in the ranks, with Tories willing to contemplate two-state solutions abroad whilst denying them at home.

The SNP have been contacted for comment.