ONE of the Scottish Tories’ top donors has expressed “significant concern” over Liz Truss potentially becoming prime minister, citing the risk to the Union with her in charge.
It comes as it emerged that not a single Tory MSP has backed the Foreign Secretary to take over from Boris Johnson in Number 10.
Her competitor, Rishi Sunak, enjoys support from the likes of MP Andrew Bowie as well as former leaders Jackson Carlaw and Ruth Davidson – despite reports that the Scottish Tories are supporting the former chancellor through gritted teeth and are concerned about his links to Johnson.
Douglas Ross, who has been mocked for his flip-flopping positions on Johnson’s role as PM this year, has refused to declare support for either remaining candidate.
Robert Kilgour, a care-home tycoon and property developer who has donated to the Scottish Conservatives for many years, says he is getting behind Sunak – believing he is the person to “offer a positive vision for Scotland’s place as part of the UK”.
“If [the candidates] can’t do that, they risk conceding ground to those who would tear it apart,” he wrote in The Times.
“For me the only candidate who shows a strong likelihood of doing this well is Sunak, whereas the prospect of a Truss premiership gives me significant cause for concern.”
This claim comes despite the fact that Sunak reportedly agreed with the case for English separation from the Union – something he has denied – and argued that it was “hard” to “block” indyref2, suggesting it held be held after Brexit to provide voters with more choice.
Kilgour argued that Sunak’s “level-headed” approach to the challenges of the UK suggest he is best placed to move into Number 10.
He said he fears Truss’s tax-cutting commitments will lead to more inflation, warning that as a former Remainer and LibDem she is “putting the long-term interests of the country behind short-term political gain”.
“I’m also reassured that [Sunak] gets Scotland and that with Sunak as prime minister the future of the Union will be more and more secure,” he went on. “He understands instinctively that our shared prosperity on these islands is only guaranteed if Scotland stays in the UK and I know he can take the fight to the SNP, helping to regrow the party’s position north of the Border.”
However, Kilgour said he can see no evidence of Truss being able to do this in the same way as the multi-millionaire former chancellor.
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“Maybe she would prove me wrong, but a prime minister who struggles to relate to voters in Scotland provides a problem for the Union, especially at a time when the SNP is campaigning hard to end it.”
Both Truss and Sunak have ruled out holding indyref2.
Sunak told the Spectator podcast this week that another referendum is “not the priority” for people in Scotland.
And when asked if she would agree to a request for indyref2 under any circumstances, Truss said this week: “No.
“The last referendum in 2014 was described as a once-in-a-generation referendum, we’re now in 2022 – that is not a generation ago.”
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