Poor polling 'motivating' Tories in countdown to May 7
Saturday brought the parties out in the sunshine as the countdown to May 7 intensifies
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay has said that poor polling projections are “motivating” his party ahead of the Holyrood election.
Mr Findlay said the party has proved polling experts wrong after being “written off” ahead of previous elections, and he urged voters to help do so again by backing the Scottish Tories on the peach-coloured regional list ballot paper.
Campaigning in Burnside, South Lanarkshire, on Saturday he was joined by former Scottish Conservative leader Baroness Ruth Davidson who described the peach ballot as “voters’ secret weapon”.
Meanwhile, First Minister John Swiney launched his Highland manifesto while speaking of Scotland’s ‘energy superpower’ while Alex Cole-Hamilton, leader of the Liberal Democrats, campaigned in the party’s target seat of Strathkelvin and Bearsden to promote his party’s message on modernising the NHS.
Recent polls suggest the Tories – who were the second-largest party in the Scottish Parliament after the last election – face losses this time round.
One survey carried out for More in Common projects that the Tories would drop to 12 seats, compared with 31 in 2021.
Mr Findlay told the Press Association: “These polls are motivating us because we are so used to being written off.
“You look at previous elections, all the experts said the Scottish conservatives would have a dreadful result.
“We proved them wrong, and the way in which we did so is using that peach-coloured ballot paper to return as many Conservative MSPs as possible, to stop the SNP.
“And we’re standing up for hard-working Scots. We want to reduce their taxes. We want to get Scotland working again. We’ve got the people to do so, and we’ve got the plan to do so.”
The major multilevel regression with post-stratification (MRP) poll for More in Common spoke to more than 5,000 Scots between February 4 and April 10.
According to the survey, the SNP would drop to 56 seats – down from 64 at the last election.
Reform would move into second place on 22 seats, while Labour would fall to 17 MSPs and continue in third.
Asked whether Lady Davidson was joining the campaign trail because the party felt it needs an extra boost, Mr Findlay said: “I’m joined by colleagues every single day.
“Last week, I was up in Aberdeenshire with Douglas Ross, our former leader.
“Today, I’m delighted to be joined by Ruth and every day we’re out, a huge, enthusiastic team, because we all understand how critical this election is.
“John Swinney thinks he’s going to walk back into Bute House, immediately demand another referendum from the weakest Prime Minister in living memory, and that’s the last thing that Scotland needs.
“People are desperate to have common-sense MSPs at Holyrood focused on the cost of living, and that’s what we are doing.”
Mr Findlay and Lady Davidson were campaigning in Glasgow with Annie Wells, Scottish Conservative candidate for the Rutherglen and Cambuslang constituency and the party’s lead candidate for Glasgow on the regional list.
He said that voting Scottish Conservative on the regional list stopped an SNP majority in 2016 and 2021 and urged people to do so again on May 7.
His comments were echoed by Lady Davidson, who said: “The peach ballot paper is voters’ secret weapon – and it’s vital they cast it for the Scottish Conservatives to stop an SNP majority.
“Labour are too weak to stand up to John Swinney, while Reform can’t even claim to be a unionist party when they are fielding pro-independence candidates and Lord Offord is relaxed about another referendum.
“Russell and the Scottish Conservatives are the only party that can be trusted to defend the Union.”
SNP Depute Leader Keith Brown said: “The Tories are a busted flush in Scotland – they have lost swathes of their support to Reform and Russell Findlay is growing more desperate and adopting more and more extreme positions to try and win them back.
“Voting SNP on 7th May is vital to elect a government on Scotland’s side which truly stands against the poison of Nigel Farage and Reform UK.
“Under John Swinney’s leadership, the SNP government is laser-focused on the issues that matter – helping families with the cost of living, improving our NHS and delivering the fresh start of independence.”
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “It is absolutely clear that right across Scotland, Scottish Labour is the only party that is capable of beating the SNP.
“All the Scottish Tories and Reform want to do is stand in opposition to the SNP. Scottish Labour wants to remove them from office.
“On May 7, the people of Scotland will have the opportunity to kick the SNP out of power after 19 years and choose a new direction with Scottish Labour.”
Reform has been asked for comment.
Meanwhile, in Bearsden, the Scottish Liberal Democrats set out a plan they say “tackles the crisis at both the front door and the back door of the NHS”.
The party said that currently too many people cannot get the care they need and that “patient safety is being pushed into the danger zone”.
The party also proposes changes it says would ensure patients can get swift access to care and would improve people’s health.
These include boosting cancer survival rates by detecting and treating it early, ensuring people are on the right medicines and harnessing the benefits of new technology and digital tools for staff and patients.
In the Highlands, First Minister John Swinney described Scotland as an “energy superpower” and could “make that energy work for us” with independence.
Mr Swinney said that currently people filling up their cars with fuel are paying the price for Westminster failure to take action as it “simply refuses to act to help people.”
Campaigning in the Highlands on Saturday, Scotland’s First Minister called on the UK Government to act now on petrol prices amid the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.
The SNP has called on the Prime Minister to remove VAT from fuel for the duration of the crisis and to scrap increases to fuel duty planned for later this year.
Mr Swinney was in the area launching the SNP regional manifesto for the Highlands and Islands, which includes policies on childcare, housing and cost of living, and said fuel prices are a particular concern for people in rural areas.
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said Mr Swinney was “ shamefully” attempting to exploit the situation in Iran to help his own narrow self-interest and to push through the SNP’s grievance narrative.
A UK Government spokesperson said: “Motorists are paying more because of the war in Iran. This is not our war and that is why we did not join it.
“We are determined to keep costs down for motorists. That’s why we have extended the 5p fuel duty cut twice until September and will continue to monitor the situation.”
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