SCOTLAND’S FIGHTBACK

With the SNP on the back foot, a rousing rallying cry: This is not just a Tory fightback... it’s

ACCORDING to the experts, it isn’t supposed to happen. Tories winning in Scotland? Come on. Everybody knows that pandas stand a better chance. Yet last week, all across this supposed Tory-free land, the ‘experts’ were given a lesson.

In Scotland’s local elections – in the land once described as Gordon Brown’s ‘fiefdom’ – Conservatives pushed Labour into third place. We won in the Labour heartland of Cowdenbeath and West Fife, just down the road from the former PM’s home. Brown country, now turning just a little blue.

In the East End of Glasgow – ‘no-go’ territory for Conservatives for decades – two local lads wearing blue rosettes beat SNP rivals.

Even out in the Western Isles, where there hasn’t been a Tory presence ever, a Conservative fought his way onto Na h-Eileanan Siar local authority.

On Thursday morning, only 112 councillors represented the Conservative party in Scotland. By Friday evening, that number had risen to 276. Nicola Sturgeon was declaring victory with the kind of rictus smile which rather suggested even she didn’t believe it.

As for Labour, it was left to count the cost of decades of complacency, arrogance and a failure to respond to the concerns of ordinary families across Scotland.

It was a remarkable result and the lesson I take from it is clear. It’s that – in Scotland, and elsewhere in the UK right now – people of all walks of life, urban and rural, middle-class or blue collar – are simply looking for some certainty.

That precious commodity has felt thin on the ground in the past few years – after the independence referendum and the Brexit vote.

It’s clear the over-riding task for political parties is to focus on delivering stability – not for ever adding to the chaos around us. This, for me, explains why the SNP and Labour left the count disappointed.

Of course, in Scotland, the SNP is still the dominant force. But the key point about last week is that the political juggernaut of the past ten years, which has swept all before it, is running out of gas.

The reason is its failure to grasp people’s priorities.

People know our education system is no longer the envy of the world. They are angered by SNP Ministers putting their own ambitions for separation ahead of children’s education.

People know the economy is in danger of going into reverse. They are fed up with SNP Ministers trying to concoct a case for independence when they should be focusing on jobs.

Most of all, people remember how the SNP promised the 2014 vote would be ‘once in a generation’. They are genuinely furious now to see the First Minister using the Brexit vote to suggest that promise never existed.

THESE people might once have turned to Labour, of course, to express their anger at the Nationalists. But Labour has elected easily the worst British leader of any political party I have seen in my entire lifetime in Jeremy Corbyn. In fact, it has elected him twice.

The last time he made a public visit to Scotland, he said he was ‘absolutely fine’ with the SNP’s plan for a second referendum. He may deny it, but this is the leader who has suggested he would be more than happy to do a deal with the SNP to get into No10.

Leaving aside his actual politics, the idea that this clueless individual could credibly represent Britain in vital EU talks in a few weeks’ time would be laughable if it wasn’t so horrendous a prospect.

Faced with the SNP and Labour’s offer of instability and chaos, it is easy to see why many people in Scotland were turned off. It is easy to see why our message in Scotland – to say No to a second independence referendum so we can get the strong government we need – seemed so appealing.

But the result didn’t add any seats to our total at Westminster, where we still have a majority of only 12. There is no time to rest on our laurels. In less than five weeks, we go back to the polls again.

In Scotland, we can expect the SNP to perform well and take the majority of seats. We all know what Nicola Sturgeon will want to do on June 9. Just as she did after the Brexit vote, she will simply try to use any gains she makes to insist that independence is necessary.

My job is to take the local government results and ensure we now take the fight back to the national stage.

At this election, only the Conservatives can really take on the Nationalists in Scotland – we have proven that now in two elections in the past year.

Only a vote for us can deliver – on two fronts. It will say we don’t want another referendum on independence and it will strengthen the hand of our UK Government to get the best Brexit deal for all of us – in Scotland as elsewhere.

I never make public predictions about elections – and after the last few years of crazy results, to start now would be a mug’s game. But what I will say is that I go into the next few weeks quietly confident.

FOR ten years, the SNP has tried to pretend its interests are the same as Scotland’s. But listen closely and you can now hear the voices of people asking if that is still the case. You can hear people who want to send the SNP a very clear message. Stop the division. Focus on the day job. Get on with what we pay you to do.

Theresa May and I are determined to stand up for all those who have had enough of the chaos and the uncertainty of the past few years. We are determined to speak up for people in Scotland who are beginning to find their voice.

The Prime Minister has made it clear that preserving our precious Union is of vital importance to her Government.

In standing up to the SNP’s drive for separation, she is now more in touch with Scotland than Nicola Sturgeon. Her plan to speak up for all working people, not just the privileged few, has as much relevance in Scotland as elsewhere in the UK.

Only Theresa May can secure the best deal for the UK in the Brexit negotiations.

I know in Scotland they’ll say the Conservative message can’t win. But I’ll be able to point them to Cowdenbeath, to the East End of Glasgow, to the Western Isles and all over Scotland and say: don’t be so sure.

A quiet rebellion began in Scotland last week. I am determined that by June 8 we will make some proper noise.

Mrs May is more in touch with Scots than Sturgeon