The SNP are “not invincible” Boris Johnson has declared as he launched the Scottish Conservative election campaign against the SNP’s independence drive.
The Prime Minister set a task for Scottish Tories to stop an SNP majority at May's Holyrood elections and blunt nationalist demands for a second independence poll.
Speaking online to the virtual spring conference, the PM did not definitely rule out a second referendum, although he has in the past said he would use Westminster powers to prevent a legal vote going ahead.
Instead Johnson changed tone and said that for Scots to go through another divisive referendum campaign in the midst of rebuilding after covid was “the last thing they need right now.”
The PM said he found it “incredible then that the SNP would choose this moment to again push their campaign for separation”.
He called on Tory activists to make the SNP listen to voters’ priorities.
He told the conference: “They are intent on pushing for a referendum, regardless of the cost to Scotland and the whole of the UK.
"So that means it falls to the Scottish Conservatives to make them listen.
“To shift the focus in Scotland from division and debate onto recovery and rebuilding. Friends, you are the only party that can stop an SNP majority and their drive towards a second independence referendum.”
Johnson has been buoyed by UK-wide polling showing that he is enjoying a vaccine bounce and a ten point lead over Labour.
In Scotland a run of polls giving a majority for independence have been overtaken by figures showing a slim majority for the Union.
There are also signs of SNP support slipping against the backdrop of infighting over the Alex Salmond inquiry and claims of a cover-up of sexual harassment complaints against two SNP MPs at Westminster with an expected SNP majority at Holyrood now in the balance.
Johnson weighed his speech with the achievements of the massive UK vaccine programme and the billions of pounds of support Whitehall has delivered for Scotland during lockdown through furlough wage schemes and direct funding to the Scottish government.
The PM deliberately summoned "the kindness and perseverance of the British spirit” which pulled people together through the pandemic tragedy and economic lockdown.
He added: “It is that spirit and those values of pulling together and of getting on with the job that we will need to continue to show in the months and years ahead.
“It is this great task that we will all need to be focused on, as we emerge from this pandemic. A collective effort that will require the efforts and strengths of every part of the United Kingdom.”
He went on: “I just find it incredible then that the SNP would choose this moment to again push their campaign for separation.
“Just when everything is beginning to reopen again, when we will soon be reunited with our friends and family, the SNP think that this is the time to turn us all against one another.
“Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised: it is their party’s obsession. Yet surely even they have a sense of priority, of what is important right now?"
The Tory leader also took a swipe at Labour as being “too weak” and unpatriotic to stand up to the SNP?
He said: “Keir Starmer had to pay for independent marketing advice to tell him that he shouldn’t be scared to be seen with the Union flag.
"And he was right behind Jeremy Corbyn when he flip flopped all over the place on whether there should be another independence referendum.
"They would rather work with the SNP to be seen as anti-Conservative than stand up for the unity of the United Kingdom.”
He added: “So, it is up to the Scottish Conservatives to again stop the SNP from winning a majority in May just like they did in 2016.
"The only party that can cut the SNP down to size. I know that with Douglas and Ruth, our very own dynamic duo, leading the campaign that we will find that the SNP are not as invincible as the pundits believe.
"So that is the goal for all of you in May and what is at stake. To stop an SNP majority government and secure Scotland’s and the whole of the UK’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.”
