IN an acknowledgment of the SNP ’s dominance in Scotland, Ruth Davidson has pledged to go skinny dipping in Loch Ness if the party wins 50 seats at the General Election.
The SNP are on track to win more than 40 seats, according to YouGov’s latest constituency-by-constituency survey.
And such is their appeal in Scotland, the former Scottish Tory leader has boasted about the prospect of Nicola Sturgeon’s party being restricted to fewer than 50 seats.
Davidson claimed she is making the pledge safe in the knowledge "that my modesty (and others' eyeballs) will remain unmolested" as she does not think the SNP will hit the 50-seat mark.
She said that conditions are "markedly different" from 2015 when the party took 56 seats.
READ MORE: SNP forecast to win more than 40 seats in latest YouGov poll
Writing in The Telegraph, she wrote: "I will happily wager to strip naked on the banks of Loch Ness and subject myself to a Hogmanay wild swimming session should such a result occur, safe in the knowledge that my modesty (and others' eyeballs) will remain unmolested."
With 59 parliamentary seats available in Scotland she said she does not think the SNP, who have 35 seats at the moment, will secure 50 tomorrow.
She continued: "The party currently holds 35 seats, while the Scottish Conservatives control 13, Labour has seven and the LibDems four.
"To hit the magic 50, the SNP has to pinch 15 seats from three parties with wildly different offerings on Brexit, the permissibility of another independence referendum, the nuclear deterrent, the economy in general and nationalisation in particular."
She added: "In addition to this, the SNP isn't just targeting gains. It's also trying to close the door on further losses. In 2017, largely thanks to pro-Union voters adopting tactical voting strategies, Ms Sturgeon lost 21 seats and half a million votes in a single night. A fair share of what's left are ultra-marginals."
Davidson also said that pro-Union voters in Scotland now have a taste for voting tactically against the SNP and concluded "let's just say I'm confident I won't be wild swimming any time soon".
Responding to Davidson's comment that she'd "happily wager to strip naked", the SNP's Stewart McDonald tweeted: "Ruth should wager that she’ll do a constituency surgery. That’d be a real turn up for the books..."
An SNP spokesman added: "This election really matters and with the SNP the main challenger in every Tory-held seat in Scotland, on Thursday only by voting SNP can we escape Brexit, escape Tory austerity, and deprive Johnson of the majority he desperately craves.
"Unlike the Tories, the SNP has never taken any vote for granted and we will continue to campaign tirelessly for the remainder of this election setting out a positive vision for Scotland and making clear that Scotland's future must be in Scotland's hands.
"Ruth Davidson's hypocrisy knows no bounds. She quit politics to get away from Boris Johnson, yet expects the rest of the country to put up with him. No-one should listen to a word she says."
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