Darling urges a No vote alliance

Political Correspondent FORMER Chancellor Alistair Darling has urged Tory and LibDem voters to back a Labour candidate to defeat the SNP.

He has backed an old Better Together colleague to take a seat back from the SNP for Labour.

Mr Darling has endorsed Blair McDougall, who was Campaign Director of Better Together, the official no campaign, while he was the political leader.

He has sent a letter out to voters in East Renfrewshire where Mr McDougall is looking to defeat Kirsten Oswald of the SNP.

Ms Oswald defeated former Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy in 2015 after he had held the seat since 1997.

In the letter, Mr Darling raised the referendum campaign he and Mr McDougall spearheaded and warned against returning to another vote on independence.

He said: “Blair McDougall and I brought together Labour, the Con- servatives and the Liberal Democrats to form the Better Together campaign.

“Blair led the fight against the SNP and we won. Now we need your help to bring together the votes of the majority again.”

He said the No-voting majority in the referendum was split at the last election, allowing the SNP to win.

This time, he asked voters not to let that happen again.

He added: “A vote for the Conservatives won’t stop another divisive referendum. It will simply let the SNP win again.”

Mr McDougall said if no voters unite around his campaign they can defeat the SNP.

He said: “I am delighted with Alistair Darling’s endorsement. He and I brought together voters from across the political spectrum to stop the SNP in 2014 and I can do it again in East Renfrewshire.

“A vote for any other party simply risks letting the SNP back in, and increases the risk of another unwanted referendum.”