Nicola Sturgeon gets skates on as parties hit the streets in final bid for votes
Nicola Sturgeon got her skates on as she visited Aberdeen’s Christmas market on the election campaign trail.
The SNP leader was joined on the ice by Scottish Finance Secretary Derek Mackay and the party’s Aberdeen North candidate Kirsty Blackman.
The visit was the first on her tour of the north east, as she urges voters to unite around the SNP to stop Boris Johnson re-entering Number 10, and to prevent Brexit.
Her later engagements involved taking part in a traditional music workshop with Aberdeenshire West and Kincardineshire candidate Fergus Mutch, and a Christmas arts and crafts class with children and Gordon candidate Richard Thompson.
Meanwhile, Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw was in Moray campaigning with Tory candidate Douglas Ross.
Mr Carlaw called on voters to “lend” votes to his party, regardless of their voting history, to “stop Nicola Sturgeon and her second divisive independence referendum”.
Brilliant to be in Moray this morning for @Douglas4Moray with @MorayTories.
Douglas has a long record of working hard for the people of Moray and he is the only one who can beat Nicola Sturgeon’s separatist candidate here. Just 5 days to go! 👍🗳🇬🇧🏴 pic.twitter.com/Kxs9puqkyd
— Jackson Carlaw MSP (@Jackson_Carlaw) December 7, 2019
Posting online, he added: “There are just 5 days left to save the union.
“Another referendum would be more divisive, more brutal and more corrosive than last time.”
Independence was also on the agenda as Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie visited a farmers’ market in St Andrews, Fife.
He said: “Across the country we are finding people who are willing to lend their vote to the Liberal Democrats to stop another independence referendum.
“You don’t have to love every single Liberal Democrat policy, you just have to be among the majority of Scots who look at the prospect of another referendum next year and say no thanks.”
Campaigning in Glasgow, Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard vowed to take seats from the SNP to get his party in power at Westminster.
It’s the final Saturday of the campaign and I’m with this top team in Glasgow South West. Two years ago @MattKerrLabour missed out by just 60 votes.
We are going to turn it red on Thursday and deliver a majority Labour government. #RedWave pic.twitter.com/ouT6IbfUCi
— Richard Leonard (@LabourRichard) December 7, 2019
He was canvassing with Glasgow South West candidate Matt Kerr, who lost the seat in the 2017 General Election by just 60 votes to the SNP’s Chris Stephens.
Mr Leonard tweeted: “We are going to turn it red on Thursday and deliver a majority Labour government.”
In Glasgow on Saturday evening, Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell is to speak at a “Rally for Real Change”.
We are at Ineos Grangemouth calling for an end to imports of fracked gas
To #DemandClimateAction vote Scottish Green on Thursday in #GE2019 pic.twitter.com/fz1GbW51Ji
— Scottish Greens (@scotgp) December 7, 2019
Elsewhere, Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie joined Linlithgow and East Falkirk candidate Gillian Mackay for a demonstration outside Ineos in Grangemouth, and urged voters to back his party on Thursday for climate action.
The party wants imports of fracked gas at the site to stop, arguing that since fracking has been ruled out in Scotland it should not instead enable the controversial gas extraction technique.