Boris to join Rishi and Ruth in battle to boost Union
BORIS Johnson and Rishi Sunak will be used by the Scottish Tories in their push for pro-UK votes in the run-up to the Holyrood election next month.
The Prime Minister and Chancellor are among those who will be enlisted to make the case for how Scotland has benefited from being part of the UK during the coronavirus pandemic.
It is not yet known if they will be able to come to Scotland in person, due to continuing coronavirus restrictions.
The move comes after the Mail revealed yesterday that former leader Ruth Davidson will head up a push to attract pro-UK voters to unite behind the Scottish Tories to deny the SNP a majority.
It led to claims from the SNP that Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has been ‘put on the subs bench’.
Speaking to journalists yesterday, Mr Ross said the return of the ‘Better Together spirit’ from 2014 can help defeat the Nationalists again, and said Miss Davidson ‘played a key role in that’. He said: ‘Ruth is absothere lutely determined, as am I, to stop another independence referendum and to get Scottish politics back to where it should be, focusing on all the issues that have been ignored or sidelined by the SNP over the last 14 years.
‘In terms of other key figures, you will be seeing throughout this campaign commenon how the UK Government has protected jobs and ensured we in Scotland have seen the significant and massive rollout of the vaccination programme.
‘So there’s a lot of positives from our membership of the United Kingdom and what we gain from being part of that family of four nations, and it is right we hear about it in this campaign.’
Asked if voters will hear from Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak soon, he said: ‘Yes... people would expect that we will be commenting, discussing and promoting what the UK Government has done throughout this pandemic.’
However, he refused to say if Mr Johnson would appear in person because ‘visits are far more constrained’ during the pandemic.
He said: ‘We’ve just got to see how the campaign rolls out whether he is here virtually, physically, making comments.’
Mr Johnson said in January that ‘wild horses won’t keep me away’ from campaigning in Scotland ahead of the Holyrood elections.
After the latest polling suggested could be a significant proindependence majority, the Tories told pro-UK voters it is now ‘mission critical’ for the Union.
The party will urge those who support the Union to unite behind them on the regional list vote. On the use of Miss Davidson to appeal to voters, Mr Ross said: ‘Ruth was always a key part of this campaign. She agreed to come back to frontline Scottish politics when I became leader to lead the Holyrood group and First Minister’s Questions.
‘I’ve got no problem working with and continuing to have the support of a former leader of my party.
If others in different parties don’t feel the same that’s up to them.’
He said Miss Davidson is ‘our most successful Scottish Conservative leader to date’ and it is right she is part of the campaign. But he added: ‘I’m the leader of the party, it’s my team, my manifesto, my policies and I’m delighted Ruth is a strong, integral part of that team.’
SNP deputy leader Keith Brown said: ‘Douglas Ross has failed so badly in his short time as Scottish Tory leader that when the campaign goes into panic mode, they have dropped him to the subs bench and rolled out Baroness Ruth Davidson to be Boris Johnson’s representative in Scotland.
‘He is used to being on the sidelines in his refereeing career, but now he is there in his political career too – if the situation was so ‘mission critical’, why is he not the man in the middle?
‘It is desperation from the Tories the only option they have left is to wheel out Baroness Davidson before she skulks off to her £300-atary
‘We gain from the UK. It is right to hear about it’
day job in the unelected House of Lords. She is the democracy denier in chief.’
During a visit to Scotland in January, Mr Johnson highlighted the reliance of the UK’s four nations on each other in the vaccine drive.
He visited test processing centre the Light house Laboratory at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus in Glasgow, met troops setting up a vaccination centre in Castlemilk, Glasgow, and toured the Valneva vaccine factory in Livingston, West Lothian.
Mr Johnson condemned the ‘endless talk’ of a second independence referendum, saying: ‘I will work together with the devolved administrations to get through the pandemic and bounce back strongly.
‘Talking about another referendum is not the priority of people in Scotland... by comparison with this pandemic.’