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Ruth Davidson: Unionists must 'hammer home' message Ruth Davidson: UK should speak up for the Union
(about 1 hour later)
Pro-Union campaigners must "hammer home" the benefits of remaining part of the UK in the run up to next year's independence referendum, according to the Scottish Conservative leader. Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has urged people in the rest of the UK to speak up for the Union.
In a speech, Ruth Davidson is setting out how the UK would be worse off without Scotland. She told her party's UK conference that everyone had a stake in the future of Britain, whether they had a say in the independence referendum or not.
Her slot on the main stage at the UK party conference comes just before David Cameron is due to speak.
The prime minister will also focus on the independence referendum.
The people of Scotland will vote in the referendum on 18 September next year.The people of Scotland will vote in the referendum on 18 September next year.
They will be asked the straight yes/no question: "Should Scotland be an independent country?" Ms Davidson said Scoland's First Minister Alex Salmond did not speak for most Scots, arguing the majority were against independence.
In his closing speech to the Tory conference in Manchester, Mr Cameron will call on those living in the rest of the UK to make known how much they value Scotland as part of the Union. She told the Conservative conference in Manchester that, with less than a year to go until polling day, Mr Salmond's government had made £32bn of uncosted promises, including reversing UK benefit reforms and boosting overseas aid.
Ms Davidson is using her speech to issue a rallying cry for the Union. She said: "Alex Salmond doesn't speak for a majority of Scots. In fact, he never has. Time after time, poll after poll, people in Scotland say they want to stay."
She will say the referendum "is not the same as an election". But the Scottish leader said there was no complacency, adding: "In the months ahead we have a lot of work to do to hammer home to people just how much Scotland gains from being part of the UK and how much the United Kingdom benefits from Scotland as a member."
"If we don't like the result, we can't just come back in five years' time and vote again. It is a choice that is vital and is binding," she will tell delegates. Ms Davidson accused the SNP government of embarking on a "say anything, do anything, promise anything approach to breaking up Britain".
The Scottish Tory leader will also claim First Minister Alex Salmond has never spoken for the majority when he makes the case for independence. She went on: "I know that many of you living in other parts of the UK won't have a vote - but we all have a stake in the result, and we can all play a part in securing our country for the future."
She is expected to add: "It's Alex Salmond who talks Britain down, saying Scots are desperate to leave. Recalling the 1995 referendum in which Quebec was asked whether it wanted to become independent from Canada, Ms Davidson said: "The secessionists were ahead until the day itself.
"Well, I'm telling you now: don't believe it. When it comes to this issue, Alex Salmond doesn't speak for a majority of Scots." "There was just a 1% margin of victory.
Plan for schools "And the single fact credited with making the difference between staying and going, between uniting the country or dividing the nation - was that the rest of Canada said, 'we want you to stay'."
Ms Davidson will say those campaigning to keep Scotland in the UK are "not complacent". Ms Davidson added: "Over the next year, when Alex Salmond comes on your television, saying things designed to get right up your nose, know that he's doing it on purpose, and that he doesn't speak for the majority of Scots.
"In the months ahead we have a lot of work to do to hammer home to people just how much Scotland gains from being part of the United Kingdom and how much the United Kingdom benefits from Scotland being a member," she will say. "Know too, that while this is the most important decision in Scotland's history - it also affects each and every one you, no matter where you live."
"There is no doubt the UK, as a nation, is greater than the sum of its parts." The referendum will ask voters in Scotland the yes/no question: "Should Scotland be an independent country?"
Earlier in the week, Ms Davidson told a fringe meeting at the Manchester conference that schools should be taken out of council control in order to give parents more say in how they are run.
Changes could include locally elected boards in charge of everything from pay and conditions to building maintenance.
Schools could also be created outside the current system, opening doors to groups of parents, not-for-profit community groups, religious groups and businesses under her new policy plan.
She highlighted a system in New Zealand where schools are self-governing and managed within a national framework. Boards of trustees are elected by parents to give them "a real say" in the way their local school is run, she said.