Gove backs ‘outstanding’ Kerr to win
Former Tory leadership contender Michael Gove was on the campaign trail in Stirling last week with the General Election looming.
Mr Gove came to the city to support Conservative candidate Stephen Kerr.
During his visit, Mr Gove spoke to the Stirling Observer, during which he was quizzed on a variety of topics, including Brexit, indyref2 and FactCheckUK.
Mr Gove, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, has served in a number of Cabinet posts including education, justice and agriculture.
He said: “The reason I’m here is Stephen (Kerr). Stephen is a brilliant MP. In the last two years he’s done more for Stirling than any MP since Michael Forsyth and he’s an outstanding candidate and he makes sure that Stirling punches above its weight in Parliament.
“But it’s also critically important that we have a candidate here who can beat the SNP. It’s a two-horse race, there’s Nicola Sturgeon’s candidate or Stephen. The SNP candidate is a stranger to Stirling. He’s an Edinburgh-based lawyer. Stephen was brought up in Stirling and went to university in Stirling.
“If the SNP win in Stirling then they will use that as an excuse to say it’s another vote in favour of an independence referendum. The only way to stop an independence referendum is to make sure that we’ve got a majority Conservative government because it’s not just the fact of an SNP MP here generating momentum for indyref2, it’s also the case that if Jeremy Corbyn gets in to Downing Street he will grant an independence referendum as well.”
He also said that if a Labour minority government was propped up by the SNP then that would mean not just another referendum on Brexit but another referendum on Scotland’s place in the union. He added: “I just think that uncertainty would be bad for business in Scotland overall. It would be paralysing for the investment that Stirling needs.”