Theresa May has sought to shore up support among unionist voters by warning that even small losses for her party could send Jeremy Corbyn to Downing Street with Nicola Sturgeon “pulling the strings” from Edinburgh.
The prime minister, who began a frantic final three days of campaigning with a visit to Scotland yesterday, pledged to “strengthen the bonds” between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland if she is re-elected, while presenting Labour as a threat to the future of the UK.
On a visit to a removals company in Edinburgh Mrs May delivered a short stump speech to supporters before travelling to campaign in Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk, her party’s top target seat north of the border.
“The reality is that if we lose just six seats, the government loses its majority,” she said. “That would mean Jeremy Corbyn in No 10 and Nicola Sturgeon pulling the strings from Bute House.
“There is another question . . . Who do you trust to strengthen the bonds across this United Kingdom? Who do you trust to stand up for our precious Union? Me, a passionate unionist . . . or Jeremy Corbyn, negotiating with the SNP for a second referendum, which he says is ‘absolutely fine by me’? I think he’s going to find out there’s a different view from the Scottish people.”
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Mrs May made the appeal as polls narrowed across the UK. Nicola Sturgeon, who wrote off Labour’s chances of forming a government as recently as last week, said yesterday that Scottish voters could help to deny the Tories another majority. The first minister, who is touring Scotland in a party-branded helicopter in the final days of the campaign, sought to persuade left-leaning voters to back the SNP rather than Labour, as polls suggested that Mr Corbyn’s party was making inroads in Scotland.
“Votes for Labour in Scotland will risk letting Tory MPs in by the back door, and only the SNP can stand up to the Tories in Westminster,” Ms Sturgeon said. “Given the narrowing of the polls in the rest of the UK, there is now every chance that a vote for the SNP can deny the Tories the crushing victory that they so arrogantly predicted at the start of the campaign.
“Indeed, some polls now indicate Scotland could be pivotal in deciding this election, with the issue of how big a Tory majority is — or whether they have one at all — decided here.”
Scottish Labour launched another attack on Ms Sturgeon yesterday, accusing her in an election broadcast of “playing a broken record” by continuing to push for independence rather then focusing on schools and hospitals.
Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, said: “After ten years of the SNP campaigning for independence, Scotland’s schools and hospitals have suffered. Nicola Sturgeon’s answer is another referendum — she is playing a broken record.
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“On Thursday, voters can elect a Labour MP who will spend every day fighting for local services, or they can elect an SNP MP who will spend every day campaigning for another divisive independence referendum.”