Ross: I will unite this country
● Put Indyref battle in past, says Tory hopeful ● ... as he pledges to ‘power up Scotland’
THE frontrunner for the Scottish Tory leadership yesterday vowed to consign the SNP’s battle for independence to the past and unite the country once more.
At his official campaign launch, Douglas Ross MP accused the Nationalists of using endless constitutional wrangling to mask the party’s failings in government.
He looks set to be announced leader this week, unopposed, and will seek to return to Holyrood in 2021 having spent four years at Westminster.
In the meantime, Ruth Davidson will renew her rivalry with Nicola Sturgeon at First Minister’s Questions (FMQs), a year after she stood down as Scottish Tory leader.
Sources say internal polling showed the party faced losing a third of its 31 seats at Holyrood next year – making Jackson Carlaw’s resignation last week inevitable.
Mr Ross vowed that under his leadership the Scots Tories would ‘redeem our promise to be a strong opposition’ with a ‘positive plan to unite the country’.
In a direct response to Ms Sturgeon’s repeated demands for another independence referendum, he insisted it was time to ‘put the divisions of the past behind us’.
He said: ‘We had that debate, we had that vote six years ago, and we were told it was a once in a generation event. What I want to do is leave that in the past.
‘Six years have passed and what we have spent the intervening time doing is continuing that constitutional battle.
‘It’s their [the SNP’s] narrative. If they’re speaking about separation, if they’re speaking about taking Scotland out of the United Kingdom, there is less focus on their domestic record and what they’re doing to reduce standards in education, on our health service that is suffering, our justice system, on local authorities who do not have funding to do the job they are there to do.’
The Moray MP, who plans to stand for Holyrood on the Highlands and Islands list, will make the positive case for the Union.
The UK Government has kept 750,000 Scots in work through its job retention scheme, and from tomorrow bills will be slashed at restaurants and cafes across the country, thanks to the Treasury’s £500 million ‘eat out to help out’ scheme, designed to boost the hospitality sector.
Mr Ross said: ‘There is no one that can question that the broad shoulders of the United Kingdom, and the borrowing that the UK Government has done, to get us through this pandemic in each part of the four nations, has been substantial and saved lives and livelihoods.
‘The job retention scheme, support for self-employed, the bounce-back loans – the list of interventions by the UK Government has been significant in every part of Scotland. The reduction in VAT for hospitality helps people in Shetland, in the same way as it does in south-west Cornwall.’
Ms Sturgeon has accused the UK Government of a ‘power grab’ over plans for an internal UK market, insisting control of things such as food standards and environmental protections should go straight from Brussels to Holyrood.
But Mr Ross said: ‘Under my leadership, I want all parts of Scotland to get a proper voice in our country. Nicola Sturgeon is right, there has been a power grab – not by the UK Government, but by her own.
‘A top priority of the Scottish Conservatives will be to take powers out of the hands of Ministers
‘Take powers out of the hands of Ministers’
‘Someone who isn’t defined by past battles’
in Holyrood and hand them back to our communities, our rural areas, our towns and villages.
‘They have little or no control over their way of life. In short, I plan to power up Scotland.’ Ms Davidson, who will stand in for Mr Ross at FMQs until she leaves Holyrood next May and enters the House of Lords, is backing his campaign.
She introduced him at a virtual campaign launch in Aberdeen yesterday – referring to the father of one as ‘boss’. And she said that Mr Ross has an opportunity to do something she could not, during her eight-year leadership.
Ms Davidson said: ‘I believe Douglas is going to set out something new. It’s not something I did, and it’s not something I could have done.
‘It’s to set out to become Scotland’s first genuinely post-referendum political leader. Someone who isn’t defined by the battles of the past, but by the future we all share in this amazing country.
‘We’ve had a decade of division, and most people want to say, “No more”.’
It was also announced yesterday that Ms Ross has the 100 nominations needed to stand, having received support from MPs, MSPs, councillors and members, from all parts of the country.
The speed with which the party has gathered behind him – both Mr Carlaw and his leadership rival Michelle Ballantyne have backed Mr Ross – shows the sense of urgency in the party.
One source said: ‘We needed to do something quick, or potentially lose a third of the group at Holyrood.’
The SNP claimed the appointment of Mr Ross would not change the Scots Tories’ electoral hopes.
Keith Brown, SNP deputy leader, said: ‘Regardless of who leads them, the Tories know they’re losing the argument and that doesn’t look set to change any time soon.’