Ross: We’ll stand down candidates in bid to help beat the SNP
Leader’s plan for tactical voting
UNIONISTS must meet the threat of a pro-independence majority at Holyrood with a mass tactical voting campaign, Scotland’s Tory leader has said.
Douglas Ross yesterday made an unprecedented offer to consider standing down candidates in some constituency seats to help the best-placed pro-Union candidate to defeat the SNP.
He wants to hold talks with Labour and the Liberal Democrats about the offer, in return for them standing aside in constituencies where his party is the main rival to the nationalists.
The Tories will also today make a direct plea to pro-UK candidates to back a Union alliance.
They estimate that Alex Salmond’s Alba Party will win seven seats if it secures just 6 per cent of the regional list vote, including snatching four from pro-UK parties.
Its impact on pro-Union parties would grow dramatically if it secured 10 per cent of the votes – potentially having a major effect on the number of Tory, Labour and Lib Dem representatives in the Holyrood chamber.
But the offer to hold talks on a pro-Union alliance has so far been snubbed by other leaders.
Mr Ross yesterday insisted it is now time to discuss tactical voting in a bid to stop a proindependence majority. He said: ‘If Scottish Labour and Scottish Liberal Democrats can’t wake up to that threat then they are not recog
‘Clear and present danger from the Alba Party’
nising the clear and present danger from the Alba Party. They are not just taking nationalist votes from the SNP, but they are gaming the system. Alex Salmond understands that they could have a super-majority of nationalist-supporting MSPs if this works out.
‘Clearly that would be to the detriment of the unionist parties, which is why I think we have got to work together in the face of this threat.’
Asked if the extent of co-operation could include standing aside from seats like Glasgow Southside, where Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar is up against Nicola Sturgeon, or North East Fife, where Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie is the main rival to the SNP, Mr Ross said: ‘I have been clear I am willing to look at every and all options on the table.
‘We don’t have much time, which is why I am asking Anas and asking Willie to just sit around the table and we can virtually have a meeting to discuss this – they can put forward proposals, I would put forward proposals. But at the moment, given the threat that we are facing, nothing is off the table.
‘Clearly, after the 2016 election when Scottish Conservatives stopped that SNP majority, we are actually in second place in many places... so it is clear the Scottish Conservatives are the strongest anti-nationalist party across much of Scotland.
‘But that doesn’t stop me from recognising that there are opportunities working together with Scottish Labour and Scottish Liberal Democrats if they are willing to do that. If they are not, the public will have to ask why and back the strongest pro-UK party, which is the Scottish Conservatives.’
Writing in today’s Mail, Mr Ross went further still, saying he wants to consider a pro-UK tactical voting campaign.
He said: ‘To stop an SNP majority and stop this new nationalist threat, I am willing to discuss what it would mean to tactically vote and how to maximise the pro-UK vote in constituencies.’
In a formal response to Mr Ross, Mr Sarwar said: ‘This election is about taking Scotland forward. We deserve better than your desperate attempts to take us back to old arguments and the politics of the past.
‘In case you hadn’t noticed, Scotland is in the middle of a pandemic. This election is not some kind of game, it is about focusing on a national recovery.
‘This election cannot be about an SNP psychodrama. It cannot be about Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond settling old scores. And it cannot be about your petty agenda of game playing. This election must be about the people of Scotland, their families and a national recovery.’
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Show, Mr Rennie said: ‘Douglas loves his gimmicks but he’s part of the problem, not part of its solution. This is the party who brought us Brexit in the middle of a pandemic – he’s not capable of bringing the country together.
What we need to do is unite the country.’
Annie Wells, Scottish Conservative candidate for Glasgow, will today issue an open letter to everyone standing for Labour or the Lib Dems to urge them to support a pro-UK alliance.
She will say: ‘As the lead opposition party, the Scottish Conservatives are seeking to unite pro-UK parties and voters once again. We have offered to cooperate and work with your parties against the SNP and against another referendum. Nothing is off the table.
‘Your party leaders have already rejected our request. For the sake of the United Kingdom, ask them to reconsider and meet us to discuss working together.
‘If your party won’t reconsider meeting with us and discussing how we work together, then I ask you directly to do so, as a candidate. Reach out to the Scottish Conservatives and let’s discuss how we can work together and co-operate to stop the nationalists.’
‘Nothing is off the table’