Scottish Conservatives launch their manifesto aimed at 'winning over Labour voters', it seems that the Conservatives view Holyrood 2016 as their big chance to come in from the 36 year imposed exile of the Scottish people, leading Glasgow list Candidate Adam Tomkins really put his foot in his mouth when he said ‘higher education is a privilege not a right’, he might know law but he is shit at politics

Dear All

The Holyrood election is interesting this year, 2015 was a disaster for the Scottish Labour Party, the worst result since 1918; there is one Labour MP in Scotland.

According to the polls, the SNP is set to be the biggest winner this year, a poll recently put well ahead of any potential rival.

No votes have been cast yet, and anything can happen in politics, but in this election, the Scottish Conservatives are putting a lot of time, money and effort.

Leader Ruth Davidson is bouncing around as there is talk about the Conservatives beating Labour into second place and becoming the official opposition.

If you take the time to view twitter, the Scottish Tories seem to have rallied their troops for a big push to try and break the circa 40 years in the wilderness.

Given the misfortunes of Labour, this might be possible, the Conservatives might have success based on the troubles that Labour face at present, troubles that stretch back decades.

In 2015, Jim Murphy and Kezia Dugdale led Labour, Murphy declared that he had ‘fixed’ Labour; then came the disaster of the election; apparently he had fixed Labour enough. Today sees the Scottish Conservatives announce a £1billion plan to upgrade Scotland's cold, damp homes as they unveil a manifesto aimed at winning over Labour voters.

So, is it all rosy in the garden for the Scottish Conservatives?

No.

They plan to stop free prescriptions and wish to introduce tuition fees, Professor Adam Tomkins, who is the candidate in Anniesland and top of the Glasgow list has recent said that higher education is a privilege not a right.

Apparently that got a frosty reception at a hustings and made it into the public domain, Professor Tomkins might be good at law but he is shit at politics.

When he stands in Anniesland, he is going to get tanked, he is fighting for third place, his is rely on his top of the Glasgow list place for the Conservatives to get him elected.

One person who seems strangely quiet about the Conservative revival election is Tory Councillor David Meikle, if you check his twitter feed; you might think that there wasn’t an election on at all.

https://twitter.com/cllrdmeikle

Also, I am having difficulty seeing Councillor Meikle in any snaps with the #TeamRuth crowd pounding the pavements; however I did find a snap of him with Nicola Sturgeon, Alison Thewliss and Norman McLeod of the SNP on his feed.

Jump David jump!

Politics such fun is it not?

So, can Ruth Davidson with her pitch to traditional Labour voters with pledges on housing, hospitals and schools do ‘the business’?

I would say not.

And a YouGov survey backs my opinion and found Labour has restored its slight lead over the Conservatives, after trailing the previous month, the Labour campaign is a tad shaky and needs to move up a gear.

Professor John Curtice predicted a parliament of 70 SNP MSPs, 24 Labour, 23 Conservatives, eight Greens and four Liberal Democrats on the basis of the results.

The Scottish Conservatives want to rebuild infrastructure but what they are not getting and steering away from his helping the poorest in society.

It is the same failure to engage since the Scottish public turned their back on the party in the 1980’s. Of course different people now in the party, different time as well, but the ‘let down’ is the same mentality.

What is the point of talking about tax cuts when public services are suffering and falling apart, especially in a country like Scotland!

The Conservatives put a lot of stock in BBC trained Ruth Davidson, I have met her a few times in passing, just a quick hello, I doubt she would even remember me, last time I saw her she was coming out of the Vets in Glasgow. Anyway, she comes across well but is failing to turn her personal appeal into support for her party.

Being clever and being trusted are two different things.

A bit of good news for Davidson is that in the Yougov poll a third of people (32 per cent) thought Ms Davidson would do a better job of holding an SNP government to account than Kezia Dugdale.

Only 13 per cent of people rated Kezia Dugdale as the best person to take on Nicola Sturgeon.

I am not in the 13 per cent, politics is in a dreadful state in Scotland, and more people are looking around for something else beyond what is currently on offer, and what is on offer ain’t much.

Labour's equalities spokesman Neil Findlay said:

"Ruth Davidson’s Tories need to spell out the costs of their plan for secret taxes on the sick and on students. This is the real test for Ruth Davidson’s party – she can’t hide behind daft photo ops forever."

Ruth Davidson has a huge gaping hole in her attempt to lead the Conservatives out of the wilderness after a 36 year exile.

And she won’t get it by saying she will invest in infrastructure, she is going to have to come up with a real plan to invest in the poorest in society.

Scottish Conservative candidate Adam Tomkins saying university higher education is a privilege not a right was a massive own goal.

Finally, look at the picture on the far left, yet again Professor Tomkins in a ‘meet the little people’ event has his elbow on the table clearly bored out of his tits and not wanting to be there.

As I said….. shit at politics!

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University