MSP Christine Grahame slams Tory ‘dishonesty’

The flyers issued by John Lamont MSP and David Mundell MP, and colleagues up and down the country, feature questions posed by local people and a case study from a family on why they will be voting No.

However, the questions, answers and family piece are identical, despite being attributed to different people.

Mr Mundell’s leaflet featured Conservative councillor Keith Cockburn and family, while Mr Lamont’s was attributed to former Tory candidate Rachael Hamilton.

Ms Grahame said: “I was astonished to discover that different people from different areas of the country asked identical questions.

“However, I was even more astounded that the Tories being questioned, including two Borders politicians, gave exactly the same responses.

“All it has done is highlight the dishonesty of the No campaign and the lack of respect they have for their constituents.”

Ms Grahame added: “Did they really think nobody would notice? Surely they think more of people in the Borders than that?”

Responding, Mr Mundell said: “This is a bizarre and quite frankly astonishing claim from a Yes campaign who repeatedly refuse to give local people even the most 
basic facts about independence.

“Our leaflet was distributed to give people the information they need after the SNP refused to tell us what currency we will have, how they will secure our pensions and how our schools and hospitals will be funded under separation.

“Given they have no credible answers on any of the big issues, it doesn’t surprise me they are trying to use this issue as a smoke screen.”

Mr Lamont told us that Mr Mundell’s statement covered his position on the matter too.