LABOUR is a “busted flush” and has given up on the Union, the Liberal Democrats have gone and left the field of play while the shine is now coming off the SNP, David Cameron has declared.

Speaking to enthusiastic supporters at the Tory conference’s Scottish reception, the Prime Minister insisted there was now only one party in Scotland which was “absolutely passionate” about keeping the 300-year-old Union intact and that was the Conservative Party.

To Tory cheers, he said that after the General Election the party had to concentrate on “the real fight”: the Holyrood elections. “The others are departing the field; Labour are a busted flush, the Lib Dems have gone, the SNP, the shine is coming off the ball as they have to start making decisions.”

Getting the required shouted responses from his audience, Mr Cameron said: “Ask yourself is the health service better off in Scotland under the SNP? Are educational standards getting better under the SNP? Are we beginning to see that their MPs have got one or two things that they need to tell us about?”

Then, getting a rousing response from Tory activists, the PM raised his voice and said: “Who is going to take them on? We are. Let’s go for it. Let’s win in those Scottish parliamentary elections, keep our united kingdom together, support Ruth Davidson and make this a great government of our country.”

He said now that the Conservative Party had been able to “lift the shackles” of the Coalition it could now implement its manifesto in full and become “the good government”.

“We mustn’t waste a day in saying we are going to go on creating those jobs, cutting those taxes, getting people those apprenticeships, helping people to buy their own home, getting good schools for their kids, making sure they can retire with dignity and security...”

He said Labour under Jeremy Corbyn’s left-wing agenda posed a great threat because if it ever gained power, it would undermine the security of not only the country and but also every family in it. “We have to fight it with everything we have,” he insisted.

But Mr Cameron stressed that he wanted to do more than for the Conservatives just to become a good government, he wanted it to become a “great government”; by going to the “deepest, darkest and most difficult problems in our country”, making the necessary social reforms in Britain, helping people trapped in poverty and creating true social mobility.  

Earlier, Mr Cameron joked that after England’s defeat in the world rugby championships he had an announcement to make: “At 10 o’clock exactly last night I became a Scottish rugby fan,” adding swiftly that as the PM he became a Welsh rugby fan too.