Douglas Ross says Scottish Tories can give SNP a ‘nightmare’ at election

The SNP could face a “nightmare” at the hands of the Conservatives, Douglas Ross has said, as he launched his party’s Scottish General Election campaign.

Ross said the Tories could “bring the curtain down on the SNP’s domination of Scottish politics” and make July 4 the day Scotland is “free of the SNP”.

He kicked off his party’s campaign in Perth, where former MP Luke Graham is looking to unseat Pete Wishart – the SNP’s longest-serving MP. Boundary changes mean Perth is in a new constituency called Perth and Kinross-shire.

It is also the city represented by SNP leader John Swinney at Holyrood.

The Tories won six seats north of the border at the last general election and an SNP MP, Dr Lisa Cameron, defected to join their party last year.

Ross addressed activists and candidates at a hotel in the city, spending much of his speech attacking the SNP’s record at Holyrood and saying Swinney was a “dishonest broker” for his support of former health secretary Michael Matheson.

He said: “Let’s seize on this one in a generation chance to deliver a fatal blow to the SNP.

“Let 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.”

He said Tory victories could put an end to the SNP’s push for independence, saying: “On July 4, voters in Scotland have a huge opportunity to move the country forward.

“The SNP say it will be their independence day – and for once they may be right.

“Because I think July 4 will be the day Scotland finally votes to be free of the SNP. 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 in to the independence campaign.”

Ahead of the Tories’ launch, SNP MP and candidate for Perth and Kinross-Shire, 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.

“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.”