THE Tories have been accused of running a “failing” council election campaign as the party increasingly makes Ruth Davidson the face of its pitch to voters.

SNP MP Pete Wishart criticised the Conservatives for “drafting in an unelected Tory Baroness to give it some electoral credibility”.

Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links has more and more become a prominent figure in the Tories' council election campaign.

It comes as a recent Panelbase poll suggested Douglas Ross’s party is set to be pushed into third place by Labour.

READ MORE: Ruth Davidson under fire after 'campaigning' for candidate who started anti-refugee petition

Election expert John Curtice said the findings suggest the Tory leader may face a “serious challenge” from Labour.

Perth and North Perthshire MP Pete Wishart said Ross is now seen as a “liability and a burden” to the party.

Wishart told The National: "It tells you everything you need to know about this failing Tory campaign that they need to draft in an unelected Tory Baroness to give it some electoral credibility.

The National: Ruth Davidson has increasingly been a prominent part of the Tory campaign Ruth Davidson has increasingly been a prominent part of the Tory campaign

“Douglas Ross is now seen as a liability and burden to the cause of Scots Toryism because of the embarrassing flip flop of backing the Prime Minister after rightly saying he should go over partygate.

“Unfortunately for the Scots Tories they will be forever tied with their UK Prime Minister, whoever they put on their posters and leaflets".

The National: Pete Wishart said the Scottish Tories' council election campaign was 'failing'Pete Wishart said the Scottish Tories' council election campaign was 'failing'

The MP also replied to a Tory election poster with Davidson's picture on it, saying: “‘Vote Ruth Davidson’s Scottish Conservatives. No one else’s. Certainly not he who can no longer be mentioned …’ Fantastic.”

The former leader has become a high-profile campaigner in recent days as the Thursday council vote approaches, with mention of Davidson significantly increasing on the party's social media.

The Scottish Tory Twitter account alone shared posts mentioning Davidson 17 times in just the past two days. 

READ MORE: Tories issue 'misleading' graphic suggesting they get more votes than SNP

Davidson has been urging pro-Union voters to give the Tories their vote, saying Nicola Sturgeon is treating Scots as “fools” over the ferries scandal.

She said: “The failing record of Nicola Sturgeon and her candidates is on the ballot paper this Thursday.

 

“They’ve left Glasgow filthier than ever before. They’ve left drug deaths to spiral in Dundee. They’ve got plans to make it unbelievably expensive to drive to work in our capital city.

“Don’t reward the SNP for failure. Get out to the polls on Thursday and teach them a lesson."