TORIES' PROPOSAL TO "STEAL" LABOUR AND LIBDEM VOTES

TORIES' PROPOSAL TO "STEAL" LABOUR AND LIBDEM VOTES

CAMERON MUST COME CLEAN ON PLAN TO DODGE DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT

SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson has today (Mon) written to Conservative leader David Cameron asking him whether he agrees with statements from Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie and Conservative MSP David McLetchie that the party will regard all non-SNP votes in Scotland as a Tory mandate to govern the country.

The full text of the letter is as follows:

Dear David,

I was interested to read comments from David McLetchie at the weekend indicating that your party intends to regard all non-SNP votes in Scotland as a mandate to govern north of the border - regardless of how few Scottish MPs the Conservatives may have elected on Thursday. These remarks follow similar comments from your Scottish leader Annabel Goldie earlier this year.

I would like to know whether you agree with this strategy. Scotland has not forgotten the way that the Conservatives governed the country when your party was far short of a majority of Scottish votes or seats - and the people of Scotland have no desire to return to the days when Tory rule meant a massive democratic deficit.

Thankfully, Scotland has moved on and we now have a parliament and government of our own. But the statements emanating from your party in the run-up to polling day suggest that the Tories have not moved on at all.

Mr McLetchie's claim that "David Cameron has a mandate to govern Britain, of which Scotland is a part, by the overwhelming choice of the overwhelming majority of Scots - that’s the sheer logic of it", suggests that you and your party are planning to use Labour and Lib Dem votes in Scotland as part of any Tory mandate.

Is that indeed your position?

You have pledged to treat Scotland with a "respect agenda" if a Conservative Government is elected. However, the public statements of your colleague George Osborne suggest that that is very far from the truth. Mr Osborne has repeatedly failed to give a proper answer to questions on Tory plans to replace the Barnett Formula and cut Scotland's funding. The Treasury's own rules state that no such changes should be pursued without the consent of the Scottish Parliament. If the Tory plan is to ride roughshod over the wishes of Scotland's national parliament - using all non-SNP votes as their mandate - then the people of Scotland should be told.

People in Scotland considering whether to vote Labour or Lib Dem are entitled to know whether you plan to "steal" votes for those parties as part of a plan to concoct a Tory mandate in the event of a new democratic deficit in Scotland - and whether you propose to use every Labour and Lib Dem vote in Scotland to justify the savage cuts you plan.

I would appreciate your urgent thoughts on these matters.

Yours Sincerely,

Angus Robertson

Note: Below are comments from David McLetchie on BBC Scotland's Politics Show, May, 2nd, and also from Annabel Goldie in January.

David McLetchie:

"Scotland is taking part in a British general election. There is no mandate for independence. That's absolutely clear in this election. Well we’re not going to have no seats in Scotland. We're going to have a number of Conservative seats in Scotland. At the end of the day, at the end of the day this is a British general election. People in Scotland are participating in a British general election. The vast overwhelming majority of Scots want to be part of Britain and they accept the judgment of the electorate as a whole. And so David Cameron has a mandate to govern Britain of which Scotland is a part by the overwhelming choice of the overwhelming majority of Scots. That’s the sheer logic of it."

Annabel Goldie:

"If the Conservatives do win the next British general election and we have more seats in Scotland, some will try to argue that we have no mandate. Let me nail this nonsense now. This is a British general election, to elect a British government and a British prime minister. People in Scotland want devolution, but they also want to be part of Britain, and that means they want to be part of the Westminster democratic process."