Ross to use party speech to position Tories as the party of Scottish unity

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross will use his speech at the party’s conference today to say the Tories must become the party that brings together what he will term a divided nation.

Having missed out on First Minister’s Questions on Thursday after an unspecified illness caused his throat to seize up, Ross is due to address delegates in Aberdeen this afternoon.

He is expected to tell the audience that Scotland is a divided country as a result of being “gripped by the dead hand of nationalism” during 15 years of SNP rule, adding that the Tories “must bring together the silent majority of working people to end this stalemate”.

“The nation I grew up in was confident and outward looking, yet the nation my children grow up in today is far more bitter and inward facing,” he will say.

He will add: “Scotland is becoming a smaller country every day that the SNP remain in power. We are becoming worse off, both economically and intellectually, because we are stuck with a government that won’t take any responsibility.”

Ross will tell delegates that the Conservatives are building “Scotland’s real alternative” and that their focus will be on ending “the referendum obsession” he believes is holding the country back.

The party conference got under way yesterday, with both Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressing delegates.

Sunak spoke via video link, delivering a pre-recorded message that had been billed as a keynote speech but which lasted just over two minutes.

During his address, the chancellor said he wanted Scotland to “share in, to drive, and to lead” the UK Government’s levelling-up agenda.

Johnson appeared in person, telling those gathered that, given Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, now is not the time to contemplate another independence referendum.

Noting that he believes it is “blindingly obvious” that a vote should not take place, the prime minister said that “this is not the moment to be having another referendum".

"It is not the time for yet more delectable disputations about the constitution when our European continent is being ravaged by the most vicious war since 1945; when public services and the economy need to recover from the pandemic,” he added.