Tories at war over pact with Labour in Scotland
Conservative HQ slaps down Scottish chief ’s call for tactical voting to oust SNP
THE leader of the Scottish Conservatives has said supporters should vote for Labour at the next election to oust the SNP, prompting fury in the Tory party’s London headquarters.
Douglas Ross told The Sunday Telegraph that Tory voters in Scotland should “do what is best for the country” and support “the strongest candidate to beat the SNP” in their constituency, even if it means electing a Labour MP.
However, a Tory spokesman in London rejected the tactical voting proposal, saying it was “emphatically not the view of the Conservative Party” and that Scots should support the Tories “wherever they are standing”.
Mr Ross said voters’ priorities should be removing SNP MPs and preventing another independence referendum, above the success of his own party.
He urged Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, as well as Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, to “look a bit beyond their own narrow party agenda” to keep the United Kingdom together.
The SNP faces its “biggest and most challenging crisis” in 50 years after Peter Murrell, husband of Nicola Sturgeon, the former first minister, was arrested last week in connection with an investigation into the party’s finances. He was later released, but Mike Russell, the party’s president admitted that Scottish independence cannot be “secured right now” amid the ongoing police investigation.
In an interview for The Telegraph’s documentary on the future of Scotland, Is This the Beginning of the End for the SNP? Mr Ross said Tory voters should consider changing their ballot to hurt the nationalists.
“I will always encourage Scottish Conservative voters to vote Scottish Conservative,” he said. “But I think generally the public can see, and they want the parties to accept, that where there is the strongest candidate to beat the SNP, you get behind that candidate.”
He said the SNP crisis presented an “opportunity” for unionist parties to win back seats.
“If parties maybe look a bit beyond their own narrow party agenda to what’s best for the country ... what would be best is if we see this grip that the SNP has on Scotland at the moment loosened, and we see a change coming,” he said.
A Conservative Party spokesman retorted: “This is emphatically not the view of the Conservative Party.
“We want people to vote for Conservative candidates wherever they are standing as that’s the best way to keep Labour and the SNP out.”
Critics on the Tory benches at Westminster argue that electing more Labour MPs is worse than maintaining the hold of the SNP on 48 of the 59 Scottish Westminster constituencies.
One senior Conservative MP said: “The problem is that electoral pacts with Labour don’t work. It’s always a one-way street.”
But another Tory source said the plan could prevent a confidence-and-supply deal between Sir Keir and the SNP. Such a deal could result in a second independence referendum, if the SNP demands a vote in exchange for its support of Labour.
“Either way, Starmer goes into No 10, but on one he goes in with a small majority and on the other one he goes in with the SNP propping him up and demanding a referendum,” the source
said. “I know which I prefer. As long as it’s reciprocated, it’s not crazy.” Sir Keir has ruled out a coalition deal with the SNP as he seeks to avoid claims he would be in the “pocket” of the party and rely on its MPs to pass legislation.
A source said Mr Ross was “flying a kite to put in people’s mind the idea of tactical voting” but “won’t have spent much time talking to [Mr Sunak] about it”. The plan would see Conservatives vote for Labour candidates in the “central belt” in the south of Scotland, and Labour supporters vote for Conservatives where they are marginal with the SNP in rural areas.
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, also rejected any tactical voting pact with the Conservatives and insisted his party would campaign to win in every seat.
“This sounds like the Scottish Conservatives are accepting they’re going to lose the next general election,” he said in the same documentary.
The split on strategy on either side of the border comes just weeks before the local elections, where Mr Sunak is expected to see significant losses.
Insiders fear the results could damage the perception the Prime Minister is “turning the boat” of opinion and repairing the Conservative Party’s brand. Polls show that while the SNP has been declining in popularity since a transgender rights row and Ms Sturgeon’s resignation, it is likely to be Labour rather than the Tories that pick up the majority of seats the party loses.