Sturgeon dismisses possible 'Ed Balls moment' for Angus Robertson

Nicola Sturgeon has said she is confident the SNP's depute leader will be returned to the Commons after Tory claims his ousting could be "a real Ed Balls moment for Scotland".

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said her party was fighting a "titanic battle" in the Moray seat of Angus Robertson, with a "pretty good" chance of defeating him.

Former Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls suffered a shock defeat in the 2015 general election, with the Tories capturing the Morley and Outwood constituency.

Ms Davidson said Tory MSP Douglas Ross had a ''close to 50%'' chance of overturning the SNP depute leader's 9,065 vote majority on June 8.

Asked if she was concerned about her depute leader losing his seat while on a campaign visit in Leith, Ms Sturgeon said: "No, absolutely not.

"Angus is not only a really strong local MP in Moray with a great deal of respect for the work he's done locally, but I think as anybody will have observed over the last couple of years he's been the only effective leader of the opposition in the House of Commons.

"So Angus is a fantastic MP, a fantastic deputy leader, has been a fantastic leader of the group and I'm confident he'll continue to be all of these things after the election."

But Ms Davidson pointed out Mr Robertson's constituency was "very pro-Union" as well as "the most pro-Brexit area of Scotland".

She said: "I also think for those people, the 50.1% of people in Moray who voted Remain, similar to thousands of people across Scotland who voted Remain that are also pro-Union, they are really angry.

"I don't think anybody has cottoned on to how angry pro-UK Remainers are that Nicola Sturgeon, Angus Robertson and others have hijacked their Remain vote to be a proxy vote for independence. People are furious about it."

Mr Ross, a football referee who was elected to Holyrood in 2016 when the Tories returned 31 MSPs, is a "fantastic" candidate, Ms Davidson said.

She stated: "I want to see my candidates returned, I want to see Conservatives in Scotland serving in the House of Commons.

"But I think should Angus Robertson's seat fall, I think that's a real Ed Balls moment for Scotland."

Ms Davidson spoke out after giving a speech in Edinburgh ahead of Thursday's local government elections in Scotland.

She said that ballot was about "who will stand up against the SNP" and "who in our local communities will act as champions for local services, not cheerleaders for separation".

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale insisted the local and general elections were not simply a two-horse race between the Tories and the SNP.

Speaking at a campaign event in Edinburgh, she said: "The council elections on Thursday and the General Election on June 8 are about two things.

"Standing up for the public services that we all value, which the Tories want to decimate.

"And sending a message to Nicola Sturgeon that the people of Scotland don't want another divisive independence referendum."

She added: "On Thursday, send the Tories a message - tell them that Scotland does not want their austerity.

"And send Nicola Sturgeon a message as well. Tell her to abandon her plan for another divisive referendum and get on with the day job."

The party goes into Thursday's vote trailing the SNP and the Tories in the polls, and hoping to cling on to control of local authorities across Scotland, including its Glasgow City Council power base.

Asked about whether Scottish Labour would rule out coalitions with the Tories, Ms Dugdale said: "The Scottish executive committee will meet on Saturday afternoon and set out a framework by which we will approach any suggestion of deals, coalitions or pacts with any other parties.

"Any position that we take will be clearly rooted in one single principle - we won't join any pacts that involve passing on cuts to the poorest people in the country."