PM urges Scottish voters to stand up to SNP

THERESA May has urged Scottish voters to stand up against SNP “separatists” and again pitched her “strong and stable leadership” after being accused by Jeremy Corbyn of relying on “simple slogans”.

The Prime Minister made an ambitious bid to capitalise on growing Tory support north of the border, where the party has only one MP, saying she would ensure Scotland and the UK “flourish together”.

In the rural village of Crathes, Aberdeenshire, where TV channels were unable to broadcast live and several journalists complained of a lack of mobile signal, Mrs May reiterated her call for voters to back her to strengthen her hand in Brexit negotiations.

It came after Mr Corbyn accused her of slipping into a “presidential bunker mentality”

cotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon reacted to Mrs May’s foray north by urging voters not to allow the nation to be “dragged back” by an “increasingly hard-line right wing Tory Government” in Westminster.

But Mrs May’s visit to northern Scotland underlined the size of the election victory she thinks is within her grasp.

Making a direct plea to Scottish voters who oppose independence, the PM said: “We want to ensure that we build a more secure and united nation.

“That means taking action against the extremists who would divide us.”

Mrs May spoke after Mr Corbyn addressed supporters in the Labour stronghold of Whitechapel, east London, in his most personal speech of the campaign so far.

He compared Mrs May to Tony Blair, whose premiership, he said, showed what can go wrong if leaders go unchallenged.

He said: “There are clear warning signs that she and her closest advisers are slipping into that presidential bunker mentality.

“It is the job of leadership to hold open the space for dissent and new thinking.”