SCOTTISH Labour and the Liberal Democrats have been accused of “ignoring the elephant in the room”, by refusing to form a Unionist coalition to stop an independence referendum.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross hit out at his fellow Unionist parties after they swiftly rebuffed his offer to join forces to oppose Indyref2.

He said it was “naive in the extreme” to ignore the threat from the SNP and the Alba Party.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar told him to “grow up”, while Scottish LibDem campaign chair Alistair Carmichael MP called him “divisive”.

The squabbling followed Alex Salmond’s launch of his new Alba Party on Friday with the aim of getting more pro-independence MSPs elected on the Holyrood list in May.

The former first ministers said that could create a “supermajority for independence”, heaping pressure on Boris Johnson to grant Holyrood the power to hold Indyref. 

On Friday, Mr Ross wrote to Mr Sarwar and Scottish LibDem leader Willie Rennie asking for a sit-down to “come together as one campaign” as in the 2014 referendum.

One option would be to “agree to form a pro-UK, anti-referendum coalition if the opportunity arises”, adding: “Nothing is off the table, I will look at any and all suggestions as to how we can do that.”

Responding to the rejections from the pair, Mr Ross said: “They are ignoring the elephant in the room that while we will all agree that the focus has to be on our recovery from Covid-19 and rebuilding from the pandemic, we can’t do that while the nationalists are determined to take us through another divisive and damaging independence referendum.

“It’s naive in the extreme of Anas to suggest that we can somehow ignore the threat that is being posed by the SNP and the Alba Party.

“We should be focused on getting through the health pandemic and taking on the emergency that will follow, and have the Scottish Parliament 100% laser-focused on our recovery and rebuilding.

“The nationalists want to take us back to the division of the past.

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“All pro-UK parties have to recognise that and that’s why I continue to make the offer to Scottish Labour and Scottish Liberal Democrats to work with us.

“We don’t agree on everything, we will never agree on everything, but we should agree about the threat the nationalists pose to Scotland and to the rest of the UK.”

Speaking on Sophie Ridge on Sunday on Sky News, Mr Ross was asked if his offer meant potentially forming a Unionist coalition government at Holyrood.

He said: “That’s one of the pledges - that we would sign up to a unionist manifesto, if the numbers work after the election to work together, to get rid of the Nationalists.”

Pressed on whether he would go into government with Labour, he said: “I’m saying that’s what we need to get round the table and discuss, because after the last 14 years in Scotland where the SNP have been in charge, we’ve not had the focus on the economy, on protecting jobs, on education, on supporting the NHS.

“We’d had a focus on independence. That’s the SNP’s priority and the Nationalists’ priority. “So we’ve got to look at how we can build up as big a coalition as possible to stop that.

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“The speed at which the Labour party and the Liberal Democrats refused that offer yesterday tells me that we’ve got to just unite behind the strongest opposition base, and that’s the Scottish Conservatives.”

Asked if Boris Johnson planned to reject any request from another pro-Yes Holyrood for Indyref2 regardless, Mr Ross said: “The Prime Minister has been clear - he’s not going to grant the powers for another independence referendum because he thinks it’s absolutely wrong for Scotland right now to be dragged back into the destructive arguments of the past, to go through all the pain and suffering that we had in Scotland through that last debate, when we should be focussed on recovery and rebuilding. 

“But the Nationalists are going to ignore that, and they’re going to say, We’re going to have a referendum anyway, and that’s going to take Scotland backwards rather than focusing on our recovery.”

Asked about the Mr Ross’s offer on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: “Our priority is to put recovery first for the country because we’ve had a terrible year with the pandemic. 

“Douglas loves his gimmicks, but he’s part of the problem, not part of the solution.

“This is the party and the man who brought us Brexit in the middle of a pandemic. 

“He’s not capable of bringing the country together. What we need to do is unite the country. 

Mr Sarwar said: “He needs to recognise that we are in the middle of a pandemic.

“He needs to recognise that this election is not some kind of game, it’s not some kind of battle, it’s not about party politics, it’s not about individual politicians fighting with each other – it’s about focusing on a national recovery.”

Speaking to the Observer, former Tory Scottish Secretary David Mundell also called Alba a “real and present danger” to the Union.

He said there was little point complaining about Mr Salmond “gaming the system”, when it was the only voting system on offer.

He said: “The important thing people have to grasp is that the threat he poses is real. The system is as it is, so whether he’s gaming it is not is not the key. The key is that he and his party represent a real and present danger… and it has to be stopped.”

Perhaps more predictably, Mr Mundell went on to say that best to do that was to vote Tory.