17 May 2019

Scottish Conservative European election candidate Baroness Nosheena Mobarik toured Peterhead fish market today as she urged Westminster parliamentarians to “come together” and deliver Brexit.

Baroness Mobarik was joined by Banff and Buchan MP David Duguid, harbour master John Forman and Peterhead Port Authority business development manager for fishing, Peter Duncan.

Voters go to the polls next week – with several parties including the SNP and Liberal Democrats openly campaigning to “stop Brexit”.

In the 2016 referendum, 17.4million people – including one million in Scotland – voted to leave.

Baroness Mobarik, who sat as an MEP since 2017 and is first on the European Parliament election list for the Scottish Conservatives, said:

“It was great to see the new fish market at Peterhead – Europe’s largest white fish port where more than £200million worth of seafood was landed in the last year.

“This is an industry that is of huge importance to our economy, not just here in Peterhead, but across the whole country.

“There are huge opportunities as we prepare to leave the EU for this sector to go from strength to strength

“The Scottish Conservatives understand that many people in our coastal communities will be frustrated that we have not left the EU yet.

“But this election offers the chance to tell our parliamentarians in Westminster that they must come together and deliver Brexit.

“We also want to send a clear message to Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP – no more divisive referendums.”

Mr Duguid, MP for Banff and Buchan, said the ‘Sea of Opportunity’ – to create more jobs and economic growth by securing a fairer share of the catch for Scottish and UK boats – is at risk from pro-EU parties who wish to overturn the referendum result.

He said: “The SNP, Liberal Democrats and others are openly campaigning to reverse the democratic outcome of the 2016 referendum.

“One million Scots – and a majority here in Banff and Buchan – voted to leave the EU.

“But the ‘Sea of Opportunity’ for our fishing industry could be lost if pro-EU parties have their way.

“The Scottish Conservatives are the only major party at this election which believes we must respect the referendum result. It is time to come together and deliver a sensible Brexit.”

17 May 2019

Ruth Davidson has set out Scottish Conservative plans to boost Scotland’s economy in a speech in Edinburgh today.

Speaking to the Scottish Entrepeneurs Lunch, Ruth said that – by ending plans for more referendums and the uncertainty they create for business – Scotland could benefit from a “post-referendum bounce”.

She also set out the party’s economic strategy, to be adopted if Ruth becomes First Minister in 2021 – to deliver a high-value, high-wage economy focussed on technology, innovation and global exports.

She also criticised the SNP’s tax proposals, saying they risk driving away talent and investment from Scotland, at a time when the country needs to attract skilled workers and capital to come here.

In the speech Ruth said:

“I believe that Scotland after 2021 can enjoy a post-referendum bounce.”

“That with the massive uncertainty of further constitutional division set to one side, business confidence and investment will return, enhancing the lives of all our citizens.”

“I want to lead a Government that takes advantage of that new chapter.”

On the SNP’s tax plans, Ruth added:

“I agree with the SNP that we need to attract more people to come to Scotland – indeed, I think it will be vital to our future prosperity.

“I just struggle to understand why the SNP thinks that a markedly higher tax regime for Scotland is going to achieve the goal we all want – to ensure the brightest and best make their home here.

“So I would say to Ministers – please be very careful about further tax rises. It risks driving away investment and jobs. And it risks damaging the very objectives you have set yourself.

17 May 2019

The Brexit Party has confirmed it would give the green light to the SNP to hold a second referendum on independence.

Its lead candidate Louis Stedman-Bryce admitted he didn’t “feel we would stand in their way” if the SNP government demanded a re-run of the 2014 vote.

The admission means the Scottish Conservatives are the only party in Scottish politics committed to the results of both the independence and Brexit referendums.

Both the SNP and the Greens repeatedly demand a second independence referendum, while Labour and the Liberal Democrats – for all their weakness on Scotland’s place in the UK – have also pledged their support to a so-called “people’s vote” on the EU.

And now the Brexit Party, despite opposing another EU referendum, are content to plunge Scotland back into another period of division and uncertainty with another separation poll.

Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins said:

“This shows while the Brexit Party may care about leaving the EU, it doesn’t give two hoots about Scotland’s place in the UK.

“It’s a completely illogical position, as Nicola Sturgeon has repeatedly said a separate Scotland would immediately reapply to the EU.

“It reinforces once again that the only party serious about Scotland’s place in the UK is the Scottish Conservatives.

“And it means we are the only party on the Scottish political scene committed to the results of both referendums.”

3 May 2019

The SNP government spent £175,000 fighting the fracking ban which its own lawyers admitted wasn’t a ban at all.

A Freedom of Information request by the Scottish Conservatives has revealed the cost to the taxpayer of the judicial review on extraction of unconventional gas.

The case was launched by leading energy firms after SNP ministers, including First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, repeatedly said fracking was banned in Scotland.

However, in the courtroom, SNP government lawyers said that was merely a “gloss”, and that there was no ban in place at all.

Now the Scottish Conservatives have blasted the nationalists for not only misleading the public on the issue, but wasting taxpayers’ cash in the process.

Scottish Conservative energy spokesman Alexander Burnett said:

“The SNP deliberately misled the people of Scotland by saying there was a fracking ban – something even its own lawyers admitted was a nonsense.

“Now we learn this deceit cost the taxpayer more than £175,000.

“It’s not the first time the SNP has blown public money on an entirely avoidable court case.

“It’s yet another example of SNP incompetence at government level, and proof that the nationalists are completely unfit for office.”

3 May 2019

Scottish Conservative MPs, MSPs and councillors have today issued a joint call for a ‘Fair Deal for the North East’ at the party’s conference in Aberdeen.

Politicians from across the region argued that north-east is losing out under Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP government.

At the opening of the Spring party conference, Gordon MP Colin Clark said local councils in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Angus and Moray are losing £100,000 a day in funding.

Research by the party has also revealed that the north-east has lost nearly 500 teachers and 18 schools since the SNP came to power.

More than one in ten GP practices in the area have shut since 2007, and under-pressure local police are reporting 79 anti-social behaviour incidents every day.

Mr Clark was joined by Aberdeen South MP Ross Thomson, Angus MP Kirstene Hair, north-east region MSP Peter Chapman, Aberdeen City Council co-leader Douglas Lumsden and Aberdeenshire Council leader Jim Gifford to make the case for ‘a fair deal’.

Local businessman Charles Skene, who founded the Skene House apartments in the city, spoke out the “economic tsunami” brought about by business rates hikes and the oil downturn, while hotelier Callum Milne, general manager of the Marcliffe Hotel, bemoaned the SNP’s failure to deliver on a 2016 manifesto commitment to halve and eventually scrap Air Passenger Duty.

Colin Clark, Scottish Conservative MP for Gordon, said:

“In 2017, people in the north-east elected Scottish Conservative MPs to six of the seven constituencies in the north-east, but we are still losing out under Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP.

“Our councils are among the lowest funded in the country, losing a combined £40m this year, our health board receives the worst settlement per head of population this year and our police service is overstretched and under-resourced.

“Under the SNP, the number of teachers in our classrooms has dropped by 500, while one in ten GP practices have shut their doors.

“Meanwhile, business rates are up, council tax is up and income tax is up – meaning people pay more but get less.

“It is not good enough, and it is time for a change.

“A fresh government at Holyrood, led by Ruth Davidson, would ensure that the north-east gets a fair deal.

“That’s why we have launched this campaign – to fight the corner of the north-east and stand up to the Central Belt and independence-obsessed SNP.”