DOUGLAS Ross will tell Tory delegates that Scotland is “bitter and inward-facing” amid a warning that the SNP refuses to take responsibility for its record in government.
The Scottish Tory leader is set to address the Scottish Conservative conference in Aberdeen this afternoon, subject to recovering from a sore throat.
But the Conservatives have been told they are the SNP’s “biggest asset” as Labour has claimed that Tory ministers south of the border are “putting the very future of the country at stake” by their failure to support communities.
Mr Ross will tell party members that Scotland “has been gripped by the dead hand of nationalism for the last 15 years”, insisting that has the country has “become divided against ourselves”.
He will add: “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. That isn’t a record that any government should be proud of.
“Scotland is becoming a smaller country every day that the SNP remain in power.
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“We are becoming worse off, both economically and intellectually, because we are stuck with a government that won’t take any responsibility.
“Our party must bring together the silent majority of working people to end this stalemate.
“We are building’s Scotland real alternative for people who are fed up with the last 15 years of SNP stagnation."
But Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has claimed that “it is shameless hypocrisy for Douglas Ross to condemn the division that he and his party have spent years stoking”.
He added: “The Tories aren’t the alternative to the SNP – they are their biggest asset.
“Their government are failing communities across Scotland and the UK, and putting the very future of the country at stake.
“The Tories aren’t good enough to lead the UK and they aren’t strong enough to stand up to the SNP."
LibDem MSP Willie Rennie has pointed to Mr Ross suffering with illness this week.
He said: "What kind of leader spends the first day of his own conference hiding under the duvet from Boris Johnson? Douglas Ross now claims he backs the Prime Minister but he won't be seen in public with him.
"The Prime Minister has been the perfect boogeyman for Nicola Sturgeon's nationalists and vice versa.
"Both their parties are stale and tired.
"While they cling on to one another for dear life, Scottish Liberal Democrats will get on with setting out a progressive plan for tackling the cost-of-living crisis with an oil and gas windfall tax, a green energy industrial revolution and an end to Conservative national insurance rises."
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