Douglas Ross backtracks on suggestion Tories could vote Labour to oust SNP

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has backtracked on comments he made suggesting Conservative voters could vote Labour at the next general election in seats where Sir Keir Starmer’s party had a better chance of winning against the SNP.Mr Ross’s comments regarding the next general election in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph suggested Conservative voters should “do what is best for the country” and support “the strongest candidate to beat the SNP”, strongly suggesting that may involve voting Labour where they are in the best place to beat the SNP.The Scottish Tory leader appeared to backtrack on the comments in an interview with Channel 4’s Ciaran Jenkins on Sunday evening after they caused anger within the UK party – and it has since emerged he did not discuss it with the UK party leader and Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak.Mr Ross told Channel 4 News: “I’m very clear I want Scottish Conservative voters to vote Scottish Conservative, but we know, there are many seats across Scotland in the north, the north east and the central belt such as East Renfrewshire where the Scottish Conservatives are the challengers to the SNP.”Mr Ross, who has been leader of the Scottish Conservatives since 2020, then suggested other parties should vote for the Tories to see the SNP “losing seats” across Scotland.

He said: “If supporters of other parties unite behind the Scottish Conservatives we can see the SNP losing seats right across Scotland.“What I am focused on are the seats where the Scottish Conservatives are the main challengers, it’s up to other parties to decide what they want to do in the seats they are targeting.“Currently at Westminster and Holyrood, the Scottish Conservatives have more MSPs and MPs than Labour or the