Starmer can't be trusted on future of the Union, says Rishi Sunak

Starmer can't be trusted on future of the Union, says Rishi Sunak

• Prime Minister issues devastating General Election warning to Scots voters

Rishi Sunak last night issued a General Election warning to Scottish voters as he declared that Sir Keir Starmer cannot be trusted to deny the SNP a second independence referendum.

In an impassioned message, the Prime Minister said: ‘Keir Starmer is a threat to the Union I care so deeply about. He will say anything, and he will ­abandon anything, if he thinks that will help him to win power.’

Asked in an exclusive interview with The Scottish Mail on Sunday whether he feared the Labour leader would change his mind and allow a second separation vote, Mr Sunak said: ‘He’s changed his mind on almost any issue that you can pick, whether it’s ­gender recognition or being in favour of free movement. You just don’t know what you’re going to get.’

On Friday, Sir Keir was at pains to reassure voters that he would not do a backroom deal with the SNP in the event of a hung parliament ‘under any ­circumstances’.

But Mr Sunak last night said: ‘He doesn’t have any convictions. I don’t think ­people know what he thinks or believes. He has abandoned pretty much every single promise and pledge he made when he ran to be Labour leader.

‘So, I don’t know why people wouldn’t think, “Well, why would he not just do exactly the same thing if he ever became Prime ­Minister?”’

Mr Sunak also set out why he is the only man to lead Scotland and the UK, highlighting how the ­Conservative government has delivered for Scots by cutting National Insurance contributions to counteract the SNP’s swingeing tax thresholds, invested in green energy initiatives and freeports, and funnelled tens of millions of pounds directly to local authorities via ­levelling up funds.

He also committed his continued support to ­the North Sea oil and gas industry.

Mr Sunak angered some of his MPs when he called a snap ­election on Wednesday without their prior knowledge. But he insisted he had taken the step because the country had ‘turned a corner’ after a ­difficult economic period.

He said: ‘Now is the right moment to turn to the future and I want to deliver a secure future for this country. I can do that because I’m prepared to take bold action and I’ve got a clear plan.’

Four recent polls suggest that Labour and the SNP will be the main parties fighting Scotland’s Central Belt battleground and beyond. Labour is on course to win around 30 seats north of the ­Border, with Sir Keir ­believing his path to No10 runs through Scotland.

The Nationalists, however, are on far ­shakier ground as pollsters suggest they could return just 16 of their current 43 MPs.

By ­contrast, the Conservatives hold seven Scottish seats. But Mr Sunak appeared unfazed by his party’s current hold in Scotland – and declared that he was the only ­person who could ‘unequivocally support Scotland’s place in the Union’.

He added: ‘I am absolutely ­committed to the Union, which I care very deeply about.

‘When my grandparents ­emigrated to our country they didn’t actually emigrate to ­England, they emigrated to the United ­Kingdom.

‘And why? Because it wasn’t just lines on the map. It wasn’t ­geography. The UK represented a set of values and that’s what attracted them here.

‘It’s those values I’m going to fight very hard to protect because those values unite us – the idea that anyone can come here, work hard, integrate, and one day end up as Prime Minister.

‘That’s what I believe, that’s what Douglas Ross and the Conservatives believe. I don’t think you will get that same ­conviction on our Union from any other party.’

Launching Scottish Labour’s ­General Election campaign on ­Friday, Sir Keir said the SNP had ‘lost any sense of ambition’ and that there was ‘absolutely no deal with the SNP going into the ­election and no deal on the other side, under any circumstances’.

He also insisted that ‘there is no way an incoming Labour government could work in any way with the SNP, whose only ambition is to break up the United Kingdom’.

That is despite the SNP’s former leader, Humza Yousaf, signalling that the Nationalists were open to doing a deal with Sir Keir.

In November, The Mail on ­Sunday told how potential SNP candidates were being secretly screened to see if they would back a Labour Budget, even if Sir Keir refused to agree to a key Nationalist demand to scrap a cap on family benefits.

It is a situation that worries Mr Sunak, fearing that a Labour ­government could not be trusted to turn down a deal with the SNP.

He also believes that it is not just his commitment to the Union, but his track record in supporting Scots during his premiership that should ­galvanise voters.

Labelling ­Scotland the highest taxed nation in the UK, he said that his ­Government had created an ‘average tax cut of £900’ for people.

He added that the freeports he created in ­conjunction with the Scottish ­Government were ‘attracting international investment, ­creating jobs and opportunity for young people in the industries of the future’, and said the UK ­Government’s levelling up funds had seen billions of pounds worth of investment into Scottish ­communities.

Mr Sunak said: ‘I’d also point to our support for Scotland’s energy industry which I have unequivocally backed, as have Douglas Ross and the Scottish Conservatives.

‘You can’t say that for the SNP, who have been all over the place on it and you certainly can’t say that for Labour, who want to ban North Sea oil and gas.

‘I support that industry because it’s good for Scotland’s economy, good for jobs, but it’s also good for our country’s energy security.’

In a final salvo towards Sir Keir, Mr Sunak said: ‘I’ve got a very clear plan. I’m prepared to do bold things because that’s what the situation demands. That’s why I can offer people a secure future. Keir Starmer could not do that.’