Douglas Ross Visit To Falkirk And The Kelpies
Deputy Political Editor David Bol reflects on the Scottish Conservative Party leader's views on Michael Matheson, National Service and where Douglas Ross feels his party could gain seats in Scotland.
Deputy Political Editor David Bol reflects on the Scottish Conservative Party leader's views on Michael Matheson, National Service and where Douglas Ross feels his party could gain seats in Scotland.
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00:00Hi there I'm David Bulb, Deputy Political Editor at The Scotsman and I'm here in
00:08Falkirk where Douglas Ross has been speaking ahead of launching his general
00:12election campaign tomorrow. He's picked the Kelpies in Falkirk because this is
00:16Michael Matheson's constituency. The Scottish Conservatives are really making
00:20a big election issue of Michael Matheson and John Swinney's quite overwhelming
00:25support for him to stay in his job. There'll be a vote in the Holyrood
00:29this week where the Tories are trying to kind of push him out of his job. It
00:34doesn't look like it's going to happen but Douglas Ross and his Tories are
00:37very much making this a big election issue and basically placing the SNP on
00:41the side of someone who's been found to have taken money and not declared it
00:45properly. Well one of the things that's come across since last Thursday is the
00:49disgraceful defence by John Swinney of the local MSP here Michael Matheson.
00:55Michael Matheson should do the right thing and resign. He tried to claim
01:00£11,000 of taxpayers money and then he lied to the public, to Parliament, to the
01:06media about that and he thought he could brazen this out. He has been found guilty
01:11by a committee of Parliament of breaching the Code of Conduct. A sanction
01:15has been applied yet we know John Swinney is going to support his friend
01:20rather than do the right thing. So the Scottish Conservatives are very clear in
01:24any other line of work Michael Matheson would have been sacked by now. The SNP
01:28haven't even suspended him from the party so we believe that for the good
01:32and integrity of the Scottish Parliament Michael Matheson must resign.
01:36Ahead of tomorrow's election launch the Tories are targeting about 12 or 13 kind
01:43of seats where they think they can hold on to their six existing seats and take
01:48some off the SNP and that'll be the focus for the Tories going forward in
01:52this campaign.
01:53Will you be selling a different sort of pitch to voters in Scotland than Rishi Sunak?
01:56Obviously he's trying to appeal to lots of different voters in England, particularly those who
02:00may be voting Brexit or Reform Party taking some of the right wing. Is your
02:04message going to be very distinct to that Rishi Sunak might be doing on a national scale?
02:07Well we obviously have a very distinct Scottish message here which is in key
02:11seats up and down the country there's an opportunity to beat the SNP to defeat
02:15their obsession with independence by uniting behind Scottish Conservative
02:18candidates who will be local champions in their area, who will be focused on
02:22investing in an education system, reducing waiting times in our NHS,
02:27creating good jobs, growing the economy. All of that is in stark contrast with
02:31the Nationalists who are obsessed with independence. John Swinney has been clear
02:35independence and separation will be page one, line one of his manifesto. His
02:40government will have independence at the heart of it. Well if voters don't want
02:43that and they want the focus to be on their priorities in key seats up and down the
02:47country they can vote Scottish Conservative.
02:49Your party chairman Craig Coy at the last Tory conference, I think he's here somewhere.
02:52He is, I'm looking. Whenever you mention him I'm going to look for him.
02:56He told me that you were looking to try and double your tally of MPs. Those are the target seats, 12 or 13.
03:01Would that be a benchmark for success in this election for Scottish Tories?
03:04Well I am confident that we can have a very good election here in Scotland. We are
03:09defending six seats at the moment and we want to make gains as well and those
03:13gains will be at the expense of the SNP because in key seats up and down the
03:17country it is a straight choice between the Scottish Conservatives and the SNP.
03:20The SNP who will be obsessed about independence or a Scottish Conservative
03:24that will be focused on the real priorities of people up and down the country.
03:27And Labour have had a bit of a surge in Scotland and across the UK. Is that not
03:31bothering you given that the battle is between you and the SNP? Is that why you're
03:34kind of pitching your pitch to voters that the SNP have messed up here and we're the ones that can beat them in some of these key seats?
03:42Well first of all the SNP have messed up here. After 17 years of the SNP being in
03:46power we have seen record weights at our A&E departments. One in seven Scots on an
03:51NHS waiting list. Our education system that was once the envy of the world now
03:55tumbling down international comparisons. But on many issues the Labour Party have
04:01very similar policies to the SNP. If we look at gender recognition reform
04:05obviously Anas Sarwar whipped his MSPs to support Nicola Sturgeon's bill on that.
04:10On Humza Yousaf's hate crime bill again the Labour Party were whipped to support
04:14the SNP on that. And on North Sea oil and gas the SNP and the Labour Party both
04:19want to turn off the taps, turn their back on that sector and the tens of
04:22thousands of Scots in the North East and a hundred thousand Scots across the
04:25country who depend on that industry for their livelihoods but also have the
04:30skills there that are going to be vital for the just transition into greener
04:33renewable forms of energy.
04:35And finally you've been at Westminster obviously for many years. You've seen what's
04:39happened to the Tory party since Boris Johnson. Has Rishi Sunak in your eyes
04:43seriously got things back on track and is he the man that can turn things around in this election?
04:47Well we can see what the Prime Minister set out in terms of inflation for example.
04:52When he became Prime Minister inflation was 11% it's now 2.3% but he's also
04:57accepting there's more to do, the job is not complete yet, we need to do as much as possible to support
05:02families here in Scotland and across the UK. And of course at the two most recent fiscal
05:06events we've seen a cut in national insurance which is important for
05:10people here in Scotland and right across the UK. But also we know in Scotland
05:15there is that straight choice between the Scottish Conservatives and the SNP in key seats
05:19up and down the country and that's why I'm going to be getting out there for
05:22the rest of this campaign to convince people to focus on supporting Scottish
05:26Conservative candidates who will deliver on their local priorities rather than a
05:29nationalist who will only want to speak about independence.
05:32Labour have kind of surged in the polls in Scotland and across the UK but really for the
05:38Conservatives they don't really need to worry too much about Labour's sort of
05:40rise because it's very much a one-on-one battle with the SNP in these certain
05:45seats. Douglas Ross making very clear that the SNP's record is on the line
05:49here, that is what they're going to be telling voters and basically getting
05:53behind Rishi Sunak's message that he can go on and win the general
05:58election. It's not the easiest thing for the Tories to sell, Rishi Sunak is
06:02appealing to lots of different people particularly on the right of his party if
06:05you look at the announcement at the weekend over the National Service that
06:09is not going to really track well with Scottish voters, it's very much looking
06:12at reform and the right of his party and trying to get some of that
06:16support back into the Tories but the election launch was taking place in
06:21Perth tomorrow and we'll have to see from Douglas Ross what his pitch is to the public.