Ruth Davidson MSP has urged voters not to “split the pro-UK vote” on the peach-coloured ballot and risk helping nationalist parties.

Joining Scottish Conservatives leader, Douglas Ross, on the campaign trail on Tuesday, she said the election would come down to “razor-thin margins” and just a few more tactical regional list votes for the Scottish Conservatives could make the difference.

She urged voters to “think peach on Thursday” to stop an SNP majority, stop indyref2 and get all of the focus on rebuilding Scotland.

Douglas Ross added that “if every pro-UK voter comes together, we can deliver a Scottish Parliament 100% focussed on Scotland’s recovery.”

Six polls over the last week show the Scottish Conservatives in clear second place as the only challenger to the SNP, particularly on the crucial list vote.

And the Conservatives say that pollster, Professor Sir John Curtice, said Labour are on course for the worst result ever, falling to just 20 seats, and that more than 1 in 7 Labour voters, around 15 per cent, are lending their list votes to the Scottish Conservatives.

Ruth Davidson said: “There is only one way to be sure of stopping an SNP majority and indyref2 – using your peach party list vote for the Scottish Conservatives.

“A vote for any other party on the peach-coloured ballot could split the pro-UK vote, help to elect more nationalists, and wreck Scotland’s recovery from the Covid pandemic.  

“Scotland’s top pollster has said Labour are going to lose seats. Not one poll shows them stopping an SNP majority. That’s why 1 in 7 Labour voters are willing to lend their peach list votes to the Scottish Conservatives.

“Backing a smaller party, however well-intentioned they may be, risks handing a seat to a pro-referendum party.

“This election will come down to razor-thin margins. A few more tactical peach votes for the Scottish Conservatives on Thursday could make all the difference.

“Even if it’s just this once, if every pro-UK voter gives the Scottish Conservatives their party list votes, just as so many people did in 2016, all the evidence shows we can stop an SNP majority and stop another referendum.

“Think peach on Thursday to secure Scotland’s recovery.”

Mr Ross said: “If every pro-UK voter comes together, we can deliver a Scottish Parliament 100% focussed on Scotland’s recovery.

“But if pro-UK voters are divided, the nationalists will take advantage and seek to break up the country, just at the moment when we need the UK furlough and UK vaccine schemes the most.

“Poll after poll shows that an SNP majority and another referendum can only be stopped for certain if pro-UK voters unite and lend the Scottish Conservatives their peach party list votes.”

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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.