Prominent Scots tell Ruth Davidson why Conservative party just can’t be crusted

MARK FRANKLAND Solicitor Advocate Mike Dailly, a leading social justice campaigner, said: “The Tories have tried to make out, through Brexit, that they are the party for the working people. But voters need to see that the Conservatives are not and never have been the party of working people.

“Both Ruth Davidson and Theresa May are like the Emperor with no clothes. There are no policies there for ordinary folk, it is a complete con.

“The truth is that, since 2010, the Tories haven’t run the economy well. National debt has risen enormously, while they have mis-sold the entire nation this idea that we need austerity.

“They have pursued policies to punish the poor. It is very Victorian. This is what is at the heart of Conservatives – the idea of the deserving and undeserving poor. We have had a series of policies such as benefits CATHY MILLIGAN AAMER ANWAR SCOTTISH Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has been bleating about the Daily Record’s criticism of her toxic party.

Yet the MSP couldn’t bring herself yesterday to call for the suspension of a Tory candidate in England who told a schoolgirl to “f*** off back to Scotland”.

James Heappey, who is seeking re-election in Wells in Somerset, reportedly made the remark as a “joke” when talking to an independence supporting sixth form pupil.

And while Davidson called the comments “utterly inappropriate”, she stopped short of demanding he step down.

The Record yesterday spoke to Scots on the frontline of the battle against poverty and they were happy to remind readers why the Tories will never be welcome north of the Border. TOMMY SHERIDAN sanctions which cost more to administer than the money saved.

“It is utterly regressive, it is punishing people because they haven’t been able to go down to the job centre because they have been looking after a sick child or something like that.

“The bedroom tax is another flawed policy based again on punishing the poor –meanwhile we have tax breaks for the best off.” Mark Frankland, who runs the First Base charity in Dumfries, said: “I think it would be a disaster if the Tories started to gain seats in Scotland, though I can’t see it happening.

“This is the party who destroyed working class communities up and down the country by closing down coal and manufacturing industry and dumping thousands of people on the scrapheap.

“People need to realise the terrible damage the party will do whenever they get into power.

“I am originally from Lancashire, and down there they barely have a public library left after so many years of complete Tory rule.

“In Scotland, we are lucky to have devolution and the ability to run things ourselves to some degree.

“It seems nobody cares much if the Tories double the national debt while taking the country down the fast track to the Third World.

“At least when Maggie Thatcher screwed the poor she managed to save a few quid. This lot have managed to make a misery out of millions of lives while splashing the cash like never before.

“Even in the world wars of the last century, we didn’t manage to a double the national debt. These clowns are in a class of their own.” Cathy Milligan, of the campaign group Castlemilk Against Austerity, said: “People are living through tough times and that can sometimes make them lash out and blame the wrong people.

“The Conservatives are cashing in on that feeling by pointing the finger at immigrants and the poor. But people need to remember that