Ruth Davidson will take to the skies above north-east Scotland today in a “major push” to try and deliver her party’s “best-ever result in a Scottish election”.
The Scottish Conservative leader will today begin a coast-to-coast helicopter tour of Scotland as the campaign enters the final furlong.
Ms Davidson, who is travelling to Peterhead, Keith and Oban, said she was targeting areas “where we believe our support is growing”.
The Tories are pushing to unseat Labour as the official opposition at Holyrood following Thursday’s vote, with some polls suggesting the parties are neck and neck in the race for second place.
The Scottish Conservative leader’s tour comes amid a growing furore over the possibility of a second vote on independence – a prospect Ms Davidson said she is “resolutely” against.
She told the Press and Journal: “From the outset of this campaign, the Scottish Conservatives have put forward a very clear message – that Scotland needs a strong opposition at Holyrood to hold the SNP to account.
“That message, coupled with our resolute stance against a second independence referendum, has resonated with many of the two million people who voted No in 2014.
“As we approach the final days of the campaign, I will be taking to the skies in a coast-to-coast trip across Scotland to areas where we believe our support is growing.
“From Peterhead in the north-east, to Keith in Moray and to Oban in Argyll and Bute, I will be mounting a major push to help deliver what could be our best-ever result in a Scottish election on Thursday.”
The Tories have faced criticism from the SNP, Labour and the Liberal Democrats over their plans to scrap free tuition fees and free prescription charges – moves that have been branded “stealth taxes”.
But Ms Davidson insisted her party’s message was resonating with voters.
She added: “I will put forward our case that the Scottish Conservatives are ready to put the SNP under the kind of pressure that Labour has simply been unable to do over the past nine years.
“Good government requires an effective opposition – the SNP needs to be challenged on education, on health, on the economy and on issues including the deeply unpopular Named Person
legislation.
“Most importantly, the next government needs to focus on the task at hand – improving our country – not dragging us back to the uncertainty of another referendum.”
