THE Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party for Yes group has stressed that Liz Truss has “no mandate in Scotland” as the Tories engulf the UK in chaos.
Speaking to The National, some of the group’s members reacted to the Prime Minister’s speech to conference.
Scottish Yes Tories was formed in 2016. Some members had been in the party for more than 20 years, but turned to independence after the Brexit vote in 2016.
“We all voted to Remain and expected Remain to win. We have watched from across the Border as decades of careful management has been undone,” the group told us.
“After what we feared would be a bad outcome of Brexit, and after the sleight-of-hand by Boris Johnson to win the last election with the slogan ‘Get Brexit Done’, we are now prepared to support Scotland to become independent.”
However, this couldn’t be further from what the Conservative Party leader said at the party conference.
Truss told delegates: “This is the United Kingdom at its best, working together and getting our economy growing. And we will face down the separatists who threaten to pull apart our precious Union, our family.”
However, this defiant energy is said not to be replicated behind the scenes in the party.
The Scottish Yes Tories said: “We are well aware that behind the scenes, Scotland becoming independent is being taken very seriously and is of great concern within our party as a whole.”
One example of this is that when the group was first formed in 2016, while Ruth Davidson was leader of the Scottish Conservatives – they were warned “that anyone who supports independence would be thrown out of the party”.
With their own party threatening their membership, are the conflicting views not too great?
The Yes group said: “At first it seemed conflicting, but the core Conservative principles of small government, low taxation and free trade is not affected by supporting an independent Scotland – especially if we can be a member of the EU once more.”
The group wants the movement to be aware that Tories backing independence are part of the campaign, and that labelling all Scottish Conservatives as “scum” is counterintuitive to independence.
“Our voters could be vital. The problem is we can’t publicly challenge ‘Tories are scum’ without outing ourselves,” the Yessers said.
And they don’t want to leave the Conservative Party even if the constitutional issue seems like a deal breaker.
The group added: “Party loyalty runs deep in all parties and none of the current independence-supporting parties are offering conservative values of small government, low taxation and free trade.”
The group has a clear a message for their leaders: “Liz Truss has no mandate in Scotland, or in fact the UK, as her policies were not in the last party manifesto.
“She’d be well advised to understand that 62% of voters in Scotland voted Remain.
“To Douglas Ross, the flip-flopping announcements have just been embarrassing.”
