Douglas Ross: Election can end Scottish independence push 'for good'

The Scottish Tory leader looked to put a constitutional focus on the Westminster election ahead of a campaign visit alongside Luke Graham, the former head of Boris Johnson’s “Union Unit” who is running for the Conservatives in Perth and Kinross-shire.

Ross and Graham will be in Perth on Tuesday, and ahead of the visit the Scots Tory leader claimed the SNP were focused “only on independence”.

Ross said: “We’re here in John Swinney’s back yard to put him on notice that the Scottish Conservatives are coming for SNP seats like this one.

“Like so many seats across Scotland, this one is a straight contest between the Scottish Conservatives and the SNP.

“In this election, the opportunity is there to finally end their independence demands for good.

“For more than a decade, ever since that once-in-a-generation referendum, the SNP have focused only on independence at the expense of everything else.

“Voters have a once-in-a-generation chance to beat the SNP by voting Scottish Conservative in key seats up and down the country.

“By beating the SNP, we can get all of the focus over the next five years onto creating good jobs, reducing NHS waiting lists and investing to improve our public services.

“Scotland has had enough of the SNP’s non-stop demands for independence and the way they overlook the issues that really matter.”

Ross's campaign event comes one day after he went to Michael Matheson's constituency of Falkirk West to try and pressure the former health secretary to resign as an MSP.

First Minister John Swinney (above), who represents Perthshire North at Holyrood, has confirmed that the SNP will be sticking with the election strategy formulated under his predecessor Humza Yousaf.

If the party wins a majority of the seats north of the Border – at least 29 out of 57 – they will seek to give “democratic effect” to the result by opening independence negotiations with the government at Westminster.

SNP MP and candidate for Perth and Kinross-Shire Pete Wishart said: “We need to get rid of the Tory Government. The way to do that in Scotland is to vote SNP, because we are the main challengers in every Tory-held seat.

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“Westminster has inflicted austerity, Brexit and a cost-of-living crisis on Scotland – these decisions have pushed up household costs, hit the economy hard and cut the money available to spend on the NHS.

“The SNP in government has shown how the best decisions are those made in Scotland, for Scotland – we have delivered the best performing A&E units in the UK for nine years, helped households struggling with Westminster’s cost-of-living crisis, and we are keeping 100,000 children out of poverty through the Scottish Child Payment.

“At the General Election, vote for the SNP and unite Scotland for a future where all of the decisions about Scotland are made in Scotland, for Scotland.”