Scottish Tory leader urges Scots to put aside their dislike of Boris Johnson

Douglas Ross has pleaded with Scots to put aside their dislike of Boris Johnson and the sleaze row engulfing Downing Street when they vote in next week's Holyrood election, arguing that the SNP's independence threat dwarfed both.

In a message directed at Unionists disillusioned with his party, the Scottish Tory leader said Westminster governments and Prime Ministers "can change" but the SNP's independence plans are "irreversible."

Referring to Mr Johnson's low popularity ratings in Scotland, he said the election was "more important than what you think about individuals and parties".

He also warned against complacency that the result does not matter as the Prime Minister will block Ms Sturgeon's demand for a second independence referendum, stating: "We cannot leave the future of our country to wishful thinking."

In a speech delivered at Coldstream in the Scottish Borders, Mr Ross said: "We cannot give strength to the SNP’s argument that Scotland wants another independence referendum. If we want the UK to continue then we need to vote for it."

His speech was delivered amid intense concern in Tory ranks that the series of controversies engulfing Downing Street and Mr Johnson will depress turnout among the party's supporters, while spurring more nationalists to come out and vote.

Ms Sturgeon plans to use a victory to force Mr Johnson to drop his opposition to another independence referendum, which she wants to stage by the end of 2023, with Scotland still recovering from the pandemic.

If he refuses, she plans to pass her own Referendum Bill and challenge him to block it in court.

But she was accused of being "delusional" over a separate Scotland requiring a hard border with England after she argued that she could get a similar deal to Northern Ireland's Brexit arrangement.

The First Minister said the Northern Ireland Protocol could be a "template" if Scotland was permitted to join the EU. The province continues to follow many EU rules so there is no land border on the island of Ireland, in line with the Good Friday agreement peace deal.

However, there is a new regulatory border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, which no longer follows EU regulations thanks to Brexit, requiring inspections at the province's ports and customs documents.

Labour said Ms Sturgeon was "detached from reality" as the protocol was already causing a major headache for Northern Irish firms. Liberal Democrat Alistair Carmichael said: "She is singing from the Brexiteer songbook."

The First Minister has this week ratcheted up her attempts to make a key election issue the funding of Boris Johnson's flat renovation, his alleged "let the bodies pile high" comment opposing a third lockdown, and a lobbying row over Covid-19 contracts.

She used a Channel 4 leaders' debate this week to urge voters in elections across the UK next week to punish Mr Johnson over the "stench of sleaze" around his Government and show the Tories "they are not untouchable".

But Mr Ross said: "Governments both at Holyrood and Westminster, First Ministers and Prime Ministers can change. What the SNP are proposing right now is irreversible.

"It would crush our economic recovery. It would take us to the brink of ending the United Kingdom. And right now, they are on course to achieve that, for winning a majority and ending the Union."

Urging Labour and Lib Dem supporters to vote tactically for his party, he said: "We need to stand up to them in the national interest, to stop a second independence referendum and secure our recovery. Just this once, we need to put our differences aside and come together behind a single campaign."

He reiterated the best way of stopping the nationalists getting a majority was to vote Tory on the regional list ballot paper, a tactic he said worked in 2016 under Ruth Davidson's leadership.

Emma Harper, an SNP candidate in South Scotland and an MSP in the last parliament, has claimed a hard border with England would create jobs despite the rest of the UK accounting for more than 60 per cent of Scottish trade.

But Mr Ross said it would instead "put half a million Scottish jobs at risk, make foreigners out of friends and family, and end a 300-year-old Union".

In an interview with the BBC's Andrew Marr last weekend, Ms Sturgeon floundered when asked why a separate Scotland would be "the only part of the EU" not to have a hard border with a neighbouring country that is not part of the bloc.

However, she told the Irish Times: "The Northern Ireland protocol, if there are easements there, yes, I think that does offer some template, but we work in a proper planned way to make sure that any rules that have to be applied are applied in a way that absolutely minimises any practical difficulties for businesses trading across the England-Scotland border."

Mr Carmichael said: "The Northern Ireland protocol was hastily cobbled together and badly thought out. Already we are seeing the devastating consequences of that decision."

Ian Murray, Labour's Shadow Scottish Secretary, said: "The First Minister’s comments simply beggar belief and demonstrate the bizarre positions that Nicola Sturgeon is forced to adopt in a vain attempt to mask the economic threat caused by Scottish separation.

"It seems that the First Minister is not a keen observer of Northern Irish politics and has an almost Faragesque relationship with reality."