Why Conservative leader Douglas Ross was at the Kelpies and what he had to say
The Scottish Conservative general election machine arrived in Falkirk at lunchtime as leader Douglas Ross set out how his party intends to woo voters.
His first task was to congratulate the local candidate, James Bundy, who had only been selected 48 hours earlier, confirming that Rishi Sunak’s announcement last Wednesday that the country would go to the polls on July 4 took even his own party by surprise.
With the Tories second to the SNP in Falkirk at the last general election, they will be hoping to continue their push for votes this time around.
Mr Bundy, a Falkirk councillor since 2022, said he was looking forward to the challenge – and is probably secretly pleased the prime minster didn’t go for an autumn election date as he is getting married in October.
However, he conceded that with the polls showing Labour had been making headway, the Falkirk seat might end up being a tight three-horse race.
He said: “It will be a case of getting out there and introducing myself to the voters on the doorstep and letting them know that I am committed to doing the best job I can to represent Falkirk.
"People want change and how that is reflected in the votes still needs to be seen, but I’m determined to do the best job I can to be selected to represent Falkirk at Westminster.”
Meanwhile, Mr Ross was still making his push to have Falkirk West MSP Michael Matheson sacked after he had initially claimed an £11,000 data roaming bill for his iPad was for parliamentary business. He later admitted it had been used on a family holiday by his sons to watch football.
He said: “In any other line of work, Michael Matheson would lose his job. We are calling for him to be sacked and for there to be a by-election in Falkirk West on the same day as the general election.”
He also criticised First Minister John Swinney for “standing up for his friend” and contesting the 27-day ban handed out by the parliament’s standards committee.
However, it is more than Mr Matheson that he has in his sights and is hopeful of making Conservative gains across the country.
Mr Ross added: “We have known for some time this would be an opportunity to get rid of the SNP. For more than a decade, ever since that once-in-a-generation referendum, the SNP have focused only on independence at the expense of everything else.
“Voters have a once-in-a-generation chance to beat the SNP by voting Scottish Conservative in key seats up and down the country. By beating the SNP, we can get all of the focus over the next five years onto creating good jobs, reducing NHS waiting lists and investing to improve our public services.
“Scotland has had enough of the SNP’s non-stop demands for independence and the way they overlook the issues that really matter.”
He said the message his party’s candidates were getting as they campaigned was that the economy, education and the NHS were what people wanted the government to prioritise on which was in stark contrast to the nationalists “obsession with independence”.