THE Scottish Conservatives are under fire for continuing to use Ruth Davidson on their general election leaflets despite her standing down as their leader in August.
The party is sending out letters carrying a signed message from Ms Davidson, a prominent Remain advocate, with her photograph at the top.
However the party’s interim leader is Jackson Carlaw, who has embraced a no-deal Brexit.
The material, which makes no mention of Mr Carlaw, is even being distributed in his East Renfrewshire constituency.
The SNP called it “duplicitous and cynical".
Although Mr Carlaw has been interim leader since Ms Davidson’s resignation on August 29, the Tory party has yet to finalise a timetable for finding a replacement.
Among those tipped to stand against him are former deputy leader Murdo Fraser and Brexiteer MSPs Michelle Ballantyne and Jamie Greene.
The Scottish Tories said it would have been unfair to use Mr Carlaw’s picture on the election material in case it gave him an unfair advantage.
In her letter, Ms Davidson stresses her commitment to the Union, and asks voters to back the Tories in order to stop a second independence referendum.
Nicola Sturgeon has said she wants to put her party’s demand for Indyref2 in the second half of 2020 at the centre of the election.
Ms Davidson wrote: “In the Scottish Parliament, Nicola Sturgeon has introduced legislation for another vote on independence, with the aim of holding that vote next year.
“That’s how high the stakes are just now and it’s why I’m asking for your support. We all need to stand together against the threat of another independence referendum.
“It’s clear that every seat the SNP win at the General Election will be claimed by them to be a mandate for the referendum they want, and it’s also clear that the only way to keep the SNP out here in [constituency] is to vote Scottish Conservative and Unionist.”
Ms Davidson’s prominence on the Tory election material helps explain her refusal to stand down as an MSP after the controversy over her £50,000 second job.
On Tuesday, she dropped her plan to join London lobbying firm Tulchan Communications rather than resign as MSP for Edinburgh Central.
SNP MP Tommy Sheppard said: “Boris Johnson was too hard-line and right-wing even for Ruth Davidson to stomach.
“But now she’s the figurehead of their campaign pleading for people to vote for him in a General Election. It’s duplicitous, cynical, and voters will see right through it.
“She has left a vacancy at the helm for two months now, and still there’s no plans in place to appoint a successor.
“Scottish voters deserve to know in advance of an election, or can otherwise assume the next leader of the Scottish Tories will be a hard-line Brexiteer hand-picked by Boris Johnson.”
LibDem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “Without Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservatives are like a football team missing their star striker.
Sensible moderate people need someone to speak for them. It will not be Jackson Carlaw who is now totally on board with Boris Johnson's hard Brexit."
A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: “The work on these leaflets began when it was still unclear if there would be an immediate leadership election.
“As every MSP, including Jackson, would be theoretically able to stand in that, it would have been inappropriate to include them on the literature.”
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