Scots can end 10-year ‘nationalist nightmare’ by defeating SNP

On the morning of 19 September 2014, we were promised that our whole country would come back together again after the divisive referendum campaign. That all sides would respect the outcome, to remain in the UK, and we would move on.

But the Nationalists never allowed that to happen. We have been stuck. Trapped in a constitutional groundhog day. A decade on from the independence referendum, we are still fighting the same old, tired constitutional campaign.

All the while, the services that we use every day have been neglected and mismanaged.

Roads ruined with potholes and upgrades to key trunk routes, like the A9, hit by years of delay.

One in seven Scots are on an NHS waiting list – the highest ever level.

Scotland’s schools are falling down international league tables to record lows – below Poland, Latvia and Estonia.

Violent crime on our streets is at its highest level in a decade.

And Scottish workers are the highest taxed in the UK, yet our public services are getting worse, not better.

We have been let down time and time again by an SNP Government that has chosen to divide Scotland instead of bringing us back together again and tackling the big challenges we all face.

But it does not have to be this way. We can bring an end to this Nationalist nightmare that has plagued our country for far too long. We can get the focus of Scottish politics onto your priorities that the SNP have left ignored.

In 2014 the pro-UK majority united to beat the Nationalists. But after the referendum we divided. We went back to old party loyalties, allowing the SNP to win election after election.

Now we have the opportunity to right that wrong. To finish the job. To close the door on independence, not just for today but for decades to come and finally beat the SNP.

Because John Swinney has made a crucial mistake. He has placed independence on page one of his party’s manifesto.

The SNP are treating this election as a proxy second independence referendum. They have put independence on the ballot paper in a desperate attempt to unite increasingly divided Nationalist voters.

But that also means Scotland has a once in a generation opportunity to reject their independence plan. After the resignations of Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf, their mounting failures in government and the police investigation into their party finances, the SNP look weaker than they have in years.

If Scottish voters come together again this Thursday, just like we did ten years ago, and unite behind the Scottish Conservatives in key seats, then we can beat the SNP. We can take independence off the table and focus on the issues that really matter.

Do not waste this golden opportunity with a protest vote for a party that cannot win and risk letting the SNP slip in through the back door. Let us make sure that they are roundly rejected this time and left with a result they cannot ignore.

Vote Scottish Conservative in key seats to beat the SNP once and for all. And together end the independence obsession and move the focus onto your priorities.

Douglas Ross is leader of the Scottish Conservatives