Reasons to vote Conservative on December 12

In Scotland, this General Election will be dominated by one question – should Nicola Sturgeon get a second independence referendum in 2020?

Last week the First Minister was here in Stirling launching her party’s campaign. She has been completely clear about her intentions and Indyref 2 is the SNPs only ambition. It is an ambition we must ensure is not realised.

Over the past few months we have seen SNP MPs engineer reasons to vote against every possible solution while offering nothing positive. On four occasions they could have supported a deal as I did, but being part of a solution would not help them realise their goal of breaking up the UK. If we are to hold referendums we must respect the results and it is the responsibility of all elected representatives to work within that principle to deliver a deal for the country, allowing us all to move on. The SNP have cynically seized any opportunity to sow division, something they have become well practised in.

Labour, on the other hand, have turned indecision into an art form but have crucially given way to the Nationalists by saying they would support a second independence referendum. I campaigned alongside many Labour Party activists locally in the 2014 Better Together campaign. These are people who passionately defended the Union and must feel totally let down by their leadership’s willingness to gladly throw Scotland on to the fire for SNP support to secure power.

The Liberal Democrats have at least been consistent in their willingness to disregard the result of the referendum but they have colluded with the SNP too many times to be trusted on the Union.

There is only one way to save Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom, stop a divisive second independence referendum and protect our economy from the disaster that would unfold if the SNP were to achieve their goal. Vote for a Scottish Conservative MP on December 12.

This will allow us to move on as a country and concentrate on the things that really matter to people.

The climate emergency demands our attention. A survey I sent out recently on the subject has seen nearly a thousand responses so far and they keep coming in , demonstrating clearly where our priorities should be.

We need to focus on jobs and building an economy that will allow everyone in our country to access good, well paid and fulfilling work.

We need investment in our infrastructure, in our schools, hospitals, police and in our roads.

This can only be delivered when we get Brexit sorted and when the country’s energies are not being constantly sapped by the SNP obsession with independence.

I stood in 2017 on a manifesto that promised to respect the referendum result and have voted at every opportunity to do just that. At this election I make a similar promise, to use my vote in parliament to respect a democratic decision, stop a second independence referendum and advocate for a strong Scotland within the United Kingdom.

Finally. it is an unfortunate consequence of elections that during them, an MPs’ office is not permitted to accept any new cases. Since being elected my office has supported people who are dealing with a huge range of issues. That’s almost 15,000 cases in less than three years.

Many of these are some of the most vulnerable people in our community. It has been a privilege and I hope, with your support on December 12, that I will be able to continue that work. If you need help during the election period you can consult my website www. stephenkerr.org/ constituents for some possible places to get help.