NICOLA Sturgeon has warned Tory MPs they "don’t have the interests of any part of the UK in mind or at heart" if they refuse to remove Boris Johnson from office following defeats in two key by-elections.
The Tories lost the Wakefield seat in West Yorkshire to Labour and Tiverton and Honiton in Devon to the Liberal Democrats – the latter by a swing of nearly 30% – on Thursday.
The First Minister said the double defeat was a “monumental, massive, humiliating vote of no confidence” in the Prime Minister.
She added: “People could see it coming 100 miles off and it should send a very strong message – if not to Boris Johnson, who is impervious to all of these things given his arrogance, it should send a very strong message to the Conservatives.
READ MORE: Scottish Tory MP Andrew Bowie wants no more 'business as usual' after double by-election loss
“If they keep Boris Johnson, a law-breaking Prime Minister who has been seen to not tell the truth, if they keep him in office, then effectively they are all becoming complicit in this.
“If this is not a wake-up call to the Conservative Party, then it will just prove beyond doubt that they don’t have the interests of any part of the UK in mind or at heart.”
But Anas Sarwar has claimed Labour securing a key by-election victory shows Scots there is an alternative way to ending a Tory Government without the need for independence.
The Scottish Labour leader has stressed that the party retaking the West Yorkshire seat “demonstrates a confidence” in the party, adding that “people can see Labour winning again”.
Speaking to LBC, Mr Sawar said the victory was proof “that those people that voted for Brexit, perhaps left the Labour party after that referendum are starting to come home to Labour”.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar (Image: PA)
The Scottish Labour leader said that if Conservative backbenchers fail to oust the Prime Minister, is is “on us the British people to unite across this country to demonstrate the next general election is not going to be you know, Scotland versus England as some might want to project here in Scotland, it’s going to be Boris versus Britain”.
He said: “The biggest psychological barrier for us to win back seats in Scotland is that people haven't believed in the last three general elections that Labour can win, and when people don't believe Labour can win the contest in Scotland becomes who can best oppose the Tories rather than replace them.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson suffers double by-election humiliation
“And I think people in Scotland can see that Labour is winning again and can win the next general election.”
Mr Sarwar added: “The second thing is, what the SNP have tried to do in recent years is try and pretend that somehow that people in England are different from the people in Scotland, that ultimately, we know we have higher levels of morality, we have higher levels of dignity, we have different expectations of our politicians, we have different expectations of our government, essentially, these people are different to us.
“And I think these two results demonstrate that wherever you live across the UK, whether you’re Scottish English Welsh or Irish, you can recognise that this is a Government that is devoid of any ideas , devoid of any principles and we want to boot them out, and that's a big, big, psychological shift I think for the mindset in Scotland.”
Mr Sarwar also suggested that for many Scots, independence was seen as the only route to removing themselves from a Conservative Government – insisting that Labour winning puts an alternative route on the table.
He said: “The last big argument the SNP have around an independence referendum and independence is Boris Johnson's Tories.
READ MORE: Sunak clashes with Sturgeon over Indyref2
“I think if we can demonstrate to people that you can express your anger for the Tories, you can get the change you want in our country to bring democracy closer to home, but also bring economic and social powers closer to home and change closer to home without going for independence in a referendum by booting out the Tories in the next general election, that's a huge shift in mindset in Scotland.”
Mr Sarwar added that Labour has now “got to demonstrate that we deserve to win”.
He said that “over the coming weeks and months”, the party will “set out what that change looks like not if you just boot out Boris Johnson and the Tories but what you get as a country and how this country changes if we elect a Labour government”.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson refuses to shoulder responsibility for double byelection defeat
Scottish LibDems leader Alex Cole-Hamilton praised the “biggest by-election victory our country has ever seen” in Devon.
He added: “It’s not a fluke because it’s the third time this has happened in a year. It also comes off the back of our making big gains in Scotland in May’s elections. The Liberal Democrat revival is happening everywhere.
"The voters of rural Britain have risen up in revolt after years of neglect. The scale of this victory shows that from one end of Britain to the other, no Conservative is safe. This is a hammer blow to Boris Johnson and everyone who embarrassed themselves defending him.
"Liberal Democrat tractors are now firmly parked on Tory lawns. We have shown that we can speak up for rural communities across the country and that momentum is with us."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel