VIDEO: Scottish Tory leader launches General Election campaign with 'game on' message

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has declared the General Election as "game on'' as she launched her party's campaign in Edinburgh.

The Tories hope to gain a significant number of the 59 Westminster seats north of the border following "very encouraging'' results in last week's local government elections.

The party's own analysis suggests it could be in contention in more than a dozen constituencies across the country after finishing second in the council ballot with a 25% share of first preference votes.

The analysis puts it out in front in key target seats such as Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, and also brings areas such as Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire into play.

Ms Davidson, launching her campaign with a stump speech in Edinburgh, said: "Caveats do apply, but even that notwithstanding, you see that this is pretty much a two-horse race (between the Tories and the SNP) in vast swathes of the country now.

"We are in the mix or ahead of the game in the Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, bits of Ayrshire, in Renfrewshire, Edinburgh, Perthshire, Stirlingshire, Angus, right the way up to Banffshire, Aberdeenshire and across to Moray.

"We've got lots of work to do...but it was a very encouraging result last week, and we take that (and) put a spring in our step as we go forward.

"But we are the underdogs in this,'' she added.

The local government results will be added to data gathered by the party through months of canvassing, with Ms Davidson admitting activists will now be "fighting hard in places that we perhaps hadn't targeted before at a General Election''.

"This is absolutely game on,'' she added.

Last week's results followed a campaign by the Tories focused on opposition to a second referendum - a message they will carry through their General Election campaign in the weeks ahead.

Nicola Sturgeon has said a Scottish Parliament vote in support of a second ballot has given her a mandate for another referendum.

The SNP leader has framed the General Election as a choice between the Scottish Parliament's right to take decisions and the Conservative government at Westminster.

"I think you have seen in both language and design, the SNP attempt to assimilate the party for Scotland and Scotland for the party,'' Ms Davidson said.

"Just because the Scottish Parliamentary voice that you hear on the television says that they want to break up the United Kingdom and that Scotland wants to leave, it doesn't mean that the majority of Scottish people believe that.

"I think this (General Election) has the possibility to reshape not just the electoral map of Scotland, but the politics of Scotland and the framework of the question of constitution in Scotland .. it's that important.''