Voters sick of a failing SNP government can make July 4 their own ‘independence day’ from the shambolic party, Douglas Ross said yesterday.
The Scottish Conservative leader said his party could ‘wipe the yellow off the map’ at the General Election and refocus the country’s priorities.
Launching his party’s campaign, Mr Ross said it was time to end the battles over the constitution and instead fix the NHS and tackle crime.
Speaking at the Royal George Hotel in Perth, he said: ‘By beating the SNP in key seats up and down the country, we can get the focus on two things that really matter to people.
‘I am looking forward to July 4. The SNP say it will be their independence day – and for once they may be right. Because I think 4th July will be the day Scotland finally votes to be free of the SNP.
Douglas Ross launches the Scottish Tory campaign in Perthshire on Tuesday
‘The day we end the era of Salmond, Sturgeon and Swinney. The day we finish the job and get the nationalists out for good. The day we hammer the nail all the way into the SNP’s independence campaign.
‘It’s the opportunity we’ve been waiting for – the chance to say no more to the Nationalists.
‘On July 4th, we can wipe the yellow off the map and put blue on the board in Scotland. The Scottish Conservative campaign is already firing on all cylinders.’
Mr Ross said the SNP’s continued obsession with breaking up the UK was to the detriment of the voting public. He said it was clear where the government’s focus lay after First Minister John Swinney said ‘all of his ministers are ministers for independence’.
Speaking to the Scottish Daily Mail, Mr Ross added: ‘It’s going to the heart of his government, and it’s going to be page one, line one of the SNP manifesto.
‘Well, at the front of the Conservative manifesto here in Scotland, it’s going to be about upgrading key roads, it’s going to be about recruiting more doctors, it’s going to be about making our streets safer and tackling crime.
‘This is going to be a crucial election and we know in key seats the difference between a Nationalist being elected and obsessing about independence or a Scottish Conservative being elected and focusing on the real priorities will be very close.
‘So that’s why we need voters to unite behind the Scottish Conservatives, not to stay at home. To turn out on July 4 to beat the SNP so we can end their obsession with independence. And we can get the discussion and the debate here in Scotland on improving our NHS, raising educational standards and investing in local communities.’
One of those key seats was where the Tory campaign was launched – Perth and Kinross-shire, where former MP Luke Graham is looking to unseat Pete Wishart, the SNP’s longest-serving MP. Mr Ross said his 2017 electoral success in Moray set a precedent for voters uniting behind his party to end Nationalist leadership.
The opposition leader, who will step down as an MP to concentrate on his job as an MSP, said: ‘I come at this from personal experience. Up until 2017 the Moray seat that I currently represent had been represented by the SNP since 1987.
‘So it took voters of all parties coming behind me as a Scottish Conservative candidate, the best candidate to beat the SNP, and we did it.’
Other key battlegrounds are West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, where incumbent Conservative MP Andrew Bowie holds a slim majority of 843.
Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, the location of a recent campaign visit from Mr Swinney, will also be hotly contested as Tory MP David Mundell aims to hold on to his majority of more than 3,000.
Dr Sandesh Gulhane, a Tory MSP, has set his sights on East Renfrewshire, where he hopes to overturn the SNP’s 5,000 majority. Voters there have elected a different party in the past three elections.
Mr Ross has highlighted the new SNP leader’s record of failure as Alex Salmond’s finance secretary, Nicola Sturgeon’s deputy and Humza Yousaf’s most prominent supporter – and condemned his ‘copy-and-paste approach’ to forming a cabinet.
He said: ‘Let’s seize on this once in a generation chance to deliver a fatal blow to the SNP. Let’s grab the chance to kick out their candidates in every part of Scotland, let’s bring the curtain down on the SNP’s domination of Scottish politics.
‘Now is the time to give them the election nightmare that is long overdue.’
Mr Wishart, whose former Perth and North Perthshire seat has been renamed after its boundaries were redrawn, said: ‘There’s only going to be one of two people who are going to win in this constituency and that’s going to be either me or the Conservative.
‘This is where you have the opportunity to deliver your judgment on the Conservative Party that has led this Government for the last 14 years. The government of Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson. I hope that you will support me and our positive vision of a Scotland that can be so much better than this. So much better than we have just now.’
