Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg advised north-east voters to vote tactically to stop the SNP and avoid “re-opening old wounds” from the referendum during a pit-stop campaign visit to two of the party’s threatened constituencies yesterday.
The Deputy Prime Minister visited the Thainstone Centre near Inverurie to shore up support for Gordon candidate Christine Jardine before moving onto Divex Global in Westhill where he met West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine’s Sir Robert Smith.
Ms Jardine is standing after the Lib Dem MP for the past 32 years, Sir Malcolm Bruce, announced he would not be seeking re-election two years ago.
However, she faces a tough challenge from former First Minister Alex Salmond, who is riding high on a wave of support for the SNP.
Mr Clegg said Ms Jardine was the only candidate who could beat Salmond in the constituency and encouraged supporters of other parties to vote Lib Dem and stop the SNP.
He said: “We have 11 seats and in all of them we are competing against the Scottish nationalists.
“A lot of my Scottish friends say to me ‘please let’s not reopen the old wounds’ (of the referendum)… people don’t want to be constantly asked the same question by the nationalists until they get the answers they want.
“I am saying here today in Gordon to Labour and Conservative voters that only Christine Jardine can beat Alex Salmond in this seat.
“We want someone who treats the people of Gordon as their absolute centre of attention and I feel that Alex Salmond treats Gordon as a pit stop on his international book tour.”
Ms Jardine said: “I think there are a lot of people who voted Labour or Conservative, and even some Yes voters, who say they are voting for me they see it as ensuring that the party that will do the best job for Gordon gets elected.”
Sir Malcom said: “Alex Salmond cannot represent the people of Gordon’s interests, they overwhelmingly voted against independence, and for him to go down to Westminster to represent them would be an absolute tragedy.
“I’m not sure Alex Salmond would have stood if I was standing again, so he’s made a mistake and calculated if I’m not here somehow or other the people of Gordon will elect him. But I have news for him – they won’t.”