Euro elections: Scottish Conservative Leader Ruth Davidson says that Ukip and the SNP are the same, newsflash Ruth, ‘No, they are not!’; Scots deserve a vote on whether Scotland should remain in the EU, another blunder by the Scottish EU liars Party aka SNP

Dear All

I have been a fan of the European Union for some time, decades, the EU project as envisage at the start of a common market was an idea of real merit.

Sadly over the years the European ideal has gone rather askew as the numbers of countries joined the union, there should have been fundamental reform carried out. The EU is a members club, the larger the membership, the worse things have gotten in the EU.

Expansion, it seems is heading towards what some dub the ‘United States of Europe’, something which people in all countries will oppose.

As the disastrous Scottish independence rolls on, we should all note that Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon do not want to give Scottish people a say on true independence, this is because they don’t believe in it.

The Scottish National Party will not give Scots a vote on whether they wish to continue with EU membership.

People in Scotland do want to have their say on whether the UK should be part of the European Union.

This is a message that Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson is using as part of her party’s message during the campaign for this month's Euro elections.

Struan Stevenson was elected to be the Scottish MEP member last time round, given that there is only 6 seats up for grabs, it is doubtful that the Conservatives given their vote share will return two.

The SNP is scaremongering on Europe over the Tory pledge to hold an in/out referendum, whether we go or whether we stay will be decided by the people. The SNP don’t want that, they don’t want the people to have the right to decide their future that is another of their mistakes in this Scottish independence campaign.

I would say the reason is quite obvious, the SNP plan to join Euro to make as much of a gulf between Scotland and England if they ever won independence.

The screaming about the pound is just a smokescreen.

In Scotland, Ms. Davidson also has her problems, Ukip is steadily increasing support, and they have the tag of being the anti establishment party, Nigel Farage although doing very well, he hasn’t made the real breakthrough in Scotland as party election results show. There is something missing from Scottish Ukip…… more Scottish policies.

Ruth Davidson likens Ukip to the SNP, this is a bit of a stretch on her, Farage and Co are closer to her party, although there are shades of SNP. The Euro election in the UK is all about Ukip, this seems to be focus. Nigel Farage has a simple message on the EU:

“Enough’s enough”!

Quite catchy isn't it.

In one sense Ruth Davidson is right, both Ukip and the SNP use "anti-Westminster rhetoric" for political ends.

Doesn’t make them the same!

A UK-wide poll on Sunday gives Ukip a commanding three-point lead for this month's European election with support of 29%.

Labour trails a respectable second with 26% and the get the third spot Conservatives on 23%.

Ruth Davidson suggestsMr Farage's party would not do as well north of the border, that is because they are still finding their base; her party doesn’t do well north of the border for over 30 years.

And during that time, she and others never fixed that problem, her voter base has collapsed and her party is aging.

Davidson said:

"We may see a moderate increase in Ukip support in Scotland. But I think Nigel Farage has seen when he's been trying to campaign north of the border that his party has come somewhat late to things, in terms of looking for a niche for a bellicose, nationalist voice to be anti-Westminster and pedal in some grievance. That role has already been filled, I would have suggested."

She added:

“We've already seen from polling that was done last year that the majority of people in Scotland want an in/out referendum, and that includes both a majority of SNP voters and Labour Party voters. We've also seen in terms of the Scottish social attitudes study that was done last year that we have the most popular position, in terms of 40% of people wanting reduced powers for Brussels, 20% of people wanted out, 25% thought it was about right and the rest wanted more. So in terms of where the people of Scotland are on this, that's exactly where the Scottish Conservatives are."

The EU hasn’t reached its tipping point just yet; I think it could be turned around, not just for the sake of people in the UK but for all the 28 members. The Club needs to close its membership in order to assess what the state of play is. Reform is certainly required, one such reform is the internal EU immigration policy which should be an EU wide policy that allows countries to set regulations for anyone wishing to move to another member state. If a criterion is not met then simply entry for residence is refused. As well as that any state should have the right to deport other EU citizens back to their home country as a right for serious breaches such as criminal activities, and I am not talking parking tickets or not having a TV licence.

Davidson stressed:

"I want Scotland and the UK to stay in the European Union - but the EU needs reform”.

Maybe as a leader of a political party she might find time to enlighten us all of what she means by reform, specific reforms not just uttering the word as a buzzword.

Tory candidates in the May 22 European Parliament elections will appear on the ballot paper beside the slogan "Scottish Conservatives - No to Independence”.

It appears that all parties are using the Euro election as a vehicle for the independence campaign, this might help boost Ukip in Scotland but given they are still trying to find their feet, they are an outside chance to win a seat, but politics is funny, anything could happen.

I haven’t made my mind up who I am voting for but I certainly won’t be vote for the Scottish National Party Candidates.

They have lost my vote completely.

Finally, Ms. Davidson needs to go learn how to 'sell beans', once she has done this perhaps she will have a chance to sell people, she should be solely be concentrating on promoting the candidates not wandering off yapping about independence and scaremongering over Ukip. 

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University