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The Scottish Tories have invited ridicule from their opponents by barely mentioning Brexit or the EU in a European parliament election campaign letter signed by party leader Ruth Davidson.

Instead, Davidson uses her letter to flip the vote on 23 May into a battle over Sturgeon’s quest for a second Scottish independence referendum: it mentions that topic 15 times, names voting day five times yet fails to say it is for the European parliament.

Instead Davidson admits in the letter she fears the Tories will haemorrhage votes, writing:

I know that some people who usually vote Scottish Conservative may be thinking about not voting at all on 23rd May.

Severin Carrell (@severincarrell) @RuthDavidsonMSP has written to voters about the European elections on 23 May - mentions independence or a new referendum 15 times. Brexit? Just once - because @NicolaSturgeon believes it justifies independence. The European parliament? Nada. pic.twitter.com/sBApW3SeBv

The latest polls suggest Davidson will struggle to save their only European parliament seat, with the SNP expected to win at least three and possibly four of Scotland’s six European seats, snatching up a large majority of the country’s pro-European voters.



YouGov last month put the Scottish Tories on 10%, compared to 17.2% in the 2014 European election, but put the Brexit party ahead of them on 13%, and Ukip on 3%. The SNP were at 40%.

Playing on Tory voters’ fears over independence, Davidson says preventing gains by the Scottish National party makes this election “really important”, adding:

The fact is that if they gain more seats at this election, Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP will twist the result to advance their overriding obsession of taking Scotland out of the United Kingdom.

The Scottish Tories’ demolition of the SNP in north east Scotland in the snap election of June 2017 was driven heavily by pro-Brexit voters in areas dominated by trawlermen who want to leave the EU, but also by anger over Sturgeon’s attempt to use Brexit as the trigger for a new independence referendum.

A Tory spokesman said the letter was a regular party communication to voters, reacting to Sturgeon’s refreshing of her independence calls. The Tories would send out its EU election address near 23 May, he said, urging voters to respect the result of the 2016 EU referendum.

Christian Allard, a French-born SNP candidate for the election, said:

The Tories created the mess of Brexit and are now terrified of giving people in Scotland a choice over their future. [The] SNP won’t shy away from the importance of these elections.

Neil Findlay, Scottish Labour’s campaign spokesman, said voters were sick of both parties’ constitutional obsessions: