Scottish election 2021: Conservatives urge people to use party vote to stop indyref2

Former Scottish Conservatives leader Ruth Davidson joined Douglas Ross on the campaign trail for a second consecutive day

The Scottish Conservatives have urged people to use their second vote at the election on 6 May to stop "another divisive referendum campaign".

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon wants to hold a second independence referendum within the next parliamentary term.

Douglas Ross said people should use their regional vote for the Tories to ensure Holyrood was "focused on recovery" rather than independence.

"They did that five years ago and stopped an SNP majority," he said.

People will have two votes in the upcoming Scottish Parliament election - one for a constituency MSP and another for a party - to be used in the regional ballot.

Once the constituency result is determined, the parties are allocated a number of MSPs depending on how well they do in the regional ballot, to make the overall result more proportional.

The Conservatives are currently the second largest party at Holyrood, with 30 MSPs out of a total of 129.

SCOTLAND ALERTS: Get extra updates on BBC election coverage

Launching the SNP's manifesto on Thursday, Nicola Sturgeon repeated her call for an independence referendum to be held within the next parliamentary term, but said it would be a "dereliction of duty" to do so while the country was still grappling with the Covid pandemic.

The SNP leader also promised to provide a "transformational" increase in NHS funding if her party won the election, saying frontline NHS spending would increase by at least 20% over the next five years.

But Mr Ross said the SNP government would be remembered for "broken promises" rather than any positive changes in Scotland, citing pledges on education, health and council tax that he argued had not been met.

"If there are good things in their manifesto, why have they have not been done in the last 14 years?" he added. "We know the SNP are very good at making promises; they are really bad at delivering them."

Mr Ross added that while he "would love to be the first minister of Scotland", his main focus at the election was preventing a majority in favour of independence.

"The Scottish Conservatives have got really bold, ambitious plans to take the country forward," he said. "But if the public have a different role for me to play, then I will absolutely do that. What we really need to focus on is what the parliament is going to look like on 6 May."

SCOTLAND'S ELECTION: THE BASICS

What's happening? On 6 May, people across Scotland will vote to elect 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). The party that wins the most seats will form the government. Find out more here.

What powers do they have? MSPs pass laws on aspects of life in Scotland such as health, education and transport - and have some powers over tax and welfare benefits.

Who can vote? Anyone who lives in Scotland, is registered to vote and aged 16 or over on 6 May is eligible. You can register to vote online.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie unveiled a series of proposals for green investment and renewables.

Mr Rennie insisted Scottish workers must be given the best chance to manufacture offshore wind turbines, after the controversy over the BiFab yards - one based in Mr Rennie's North East Fife constituency - failing to secure any new contracts.

The Lib Dems' plans would create "thousands of jobs through investment in warmer homes, renewables, the circular economy and hydrogen", and give "special care" to ensure regions heavily invested in fossil fuels had a "fair transition to new industries".

"We have the wind, the waves, the people and skills to make it all work," Mr Rennie added.

Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie called for a "re-powering" of the on-shore wind industry to help accelerate Scotland's climate change targets.

Mr Harvie said the country would need "an incredible increase in renewable electricity generation" as more transport and heat networks were electrified.

"We are going to see more demand for renewables than we we can currently supply," he said. "There is a lot of interest in tidal and off-shore wind but the on-shore wind industry is already our cheapest and most developed form of renewables so we need to be re-powering our existing turbines, replacing them with modern, more efficient and powerful turbines but also expanding.

"That increase in on-shore wind is going to have to be developed in a way that suits people's local communities and we think a bigger proportion of community ownership would also help make sure the benefit flows throughout all of Scotland."

Meanwhile Anas Sarwar, who was only elected Scottish Labour leader in February, said he does not believe he can turn around his party's 20-year decline in Scotland before the election on 6 May.

However Mr Sarwar denied he was being "defeatist", insisting instead that he was being honest.

He said that he was sure that he could reverse his party's recent fortunes by rebuilding the Labour Party and giving voters the party they deserved.

• BASICS: A really simple guide to the election

• POLICIES: Who should I vote for?

• CANDIDATES: Who can I vote for in my area?

• PODLITICAL: Updates from the campaign

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