Bet you can’t wait to kick out the Tories completely in Scotland - Angus Robertson

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross is joined by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to unveil The Scottish Conservatives manifesto in Edinburgh yesterday

As we have seen in recent days, the Tories certainly are gamblers and not only with the future of the country.

Indeed, Rishi Sunak’s parliamentary aide, Craig Williams, the Tories’ chief data officer Nick Mason and party candidate Laura Saunders, a member of his close protection team and others close to the Conservative party are being investigated by the gambling commission for placing bets on the date of the general election in the days leading up to Sunak’s announcement of the July 4 poll.

Craig Williams has admitted to a ‘huge error of judgement’, though he and the others insist they did nothing wrong.

The gambling commission is now investigating ‘hundreds’ of bets across numerous gambling establishments, all of which happened to be placed on the correct election date.

While this is detestable, should we really be surprised? This is the party whose members and friends were given billions of pounds of sham Covid contracts.

The party whose leaders – including Sunak – partied as the rest of us were in lockdown. Who carelessly crashed the economy. Now, those in the know seem to be seeking a wad of cash before they are sent packing from Downing Street.

While it is all but certain the Conservatives are finished in Government, in Scotland we may have the unique opportunity to banish them entirely.

In every single Tory-held seat the SNP are the closest competitor. By voting for the SNP, we could rid Scotland of Tory MPs altogether for the first time.

It would also put a spanner in the works of Douglas Ross’s plans to desert Holyrood for Westminster. He has announced he will stand down as leader and from his Scottish Parliament seat if he wins his Westminster seat.

This was after the triple-jobbing Ross explicitly said he was not going to stand in the Westminster election so he could work full time in Holyrood, as he was supposed to be doing in the first place.

His loss would be thoroughly deserved, not least for callously kicking out David Duguid as the Conservative candidate for the apparently unforgivable crime of experiencing a period of ill health.

Ross wants to be anywhere else but serving the people in the Scottish Parliament. But he certainly does not deserve a Westminster seat, and all efforts should be made to prevent him gaining this privilege. That solution is simple: vote SNP.

Of course, getting rid of the Tories is only one reason to vote SNP. Our manifesto shows we are the only party that is not hellbent on imposing years of austerity, as the independent IFS has said the Tories and Labour will implement.

We are the only party to oppose the dismal and economically damaging Brexit and with an unwavering commitment to re-joining the EU.

And as our long-established record of commitment to protecting the poorest and most vulnerable in society shows, we are the only party serious about tackling the cost-of-living crisis.

Voting SNP is as easy as ABC: opposing Austerity, Brexit and the Cost-of-living crisis.

A strong showing of SNP MPs at Westminster and John Swinney’s stable leadership in Holyrood is the best plan for Scotland.