Sunak warns of Scottish independence threat in ‘desperate’ bid to save Tory vote

Rishi Sunak has been accused of a “desperate” attempt to save the Conservatives’ core vote in Scotland by playing up the independence threat posed by the SNP.

The Prime Minister said unionist voters had a chance to put independence “on the backburner for a generation” by ousting SNP MPs at the general election.

Speaking at the Scottish Tory manifesto launch in Edinburgh, Mr Sunak said the push for a new referendum on separation would only end if the SNP “lose big” and are “routed”.

The Scottish Tories are battling directly against the SNP across the north-east and Scottish Borders, bidding to cling on to their current total of six seats in Scotland.

However, recent Ipsos Mori polling found that the party looked set to be reduced to just three seats in Scotland.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said on Monday that the Tories could still give the SNP a “bad night” on 4 July, as he too emphasised the chance to “put the nationalists’ political obsession to rest for a generation”.

However, Mr Ross later told reporters that the election campaign had become a “tough scrap” for his party, and the scandal over alleged election betting had made things “very difficult”.

It comes after the SNP promised to demand that No 10 grants a new independence referendum if the party wins a majority of seats in Scotland.

Andy Maciver, the former Scottish Tories’ communications chief, told i there was some “logic” to playing up the threat of a fresh independence push by the SNP.

But he warned that it was likely to be far less of a vote winner for Mr Ross’s party than in previous Westminster and Holyrood elections.

“They are desperate,” he said. “Their seats are a straight fight against the SNP, so they have tried to mobilise a unionist vote by saying independence is a real, live threat.”

Mr Maciver warned: “There’s an element of the voter base that buys that. But most Scottish voters have realised independence is off the table. It’s why so many unionists are voting Labour, knowing it is less of a threat.”

Emily Gray, managing director of Ipsos Mori in Scotland, said the average results of the last five polls put the Tories on 14 per cent in Scotland – roughly where the party was at the start of the campaign.

“It’s quite a slip on 2019, when they won 25 per cent of the vote in Scotland,” the pollster told i. She said the party could still face “wipe-out” by losing all their seats to the SNP.

“The focus on independence is a core vote strategy. But independence is less of a concern than it was in 2019, so there is a risk that strategy may not pay off.”

Labour’s Shadow Scotland Secretary Ian Murray said the Scottish Tory manifesto launch was “the desperate last gasp of an irrelevant party trying to distract and divide”.

Alison Thewliss, the SNP candidate for Glasgow North, said Mr Sunak and Mr Ross should “compare notes on which one has run the worst campaign”.

Alex Salmond, leader of the pro-independence breakaway party Alba, told i: “The last person who is going to decide if independence is on the backburner or not is Rishi Sunak.”

The Scottish Tory manifesto included plans to “abolish” Scotland’s intermediate income tax rate, and increase the tax threshold for first-time home buyers’ north of the border.

Mr Ross promised a 1p cut to the intermediate rate – the band which sees Scots pay 21 per cent on earnings between £26,562 and £43,662. It would effectively scrap the band by bringing it in line with the 20 per cent paid by basic rate workers.

He also pledged to help first-time buyers by raising the threshold for Land and Buildings Transaction Tax – the Scottish equivalent of stamp duty – from £145,000 to £250,000.