Scots voters can deal the the failing SNP a crushing blow by backing Rishi Sunak at the polls today, according to the Scottish Tories.

Senior figures warned a series of key seats in Scotland were on a ‘knife-edge’ and urged frustrated supporters to step-in and stop the Nationalists at the ballot box.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross insisted the SNP could ‘finally get its comeuppance’ if disaffected voters in 12 battleground constituencies stuck with his party and shunned others such as Reform UK.

In a plea to those who support the Union, he said they can ensure Nicola Sturgeon is ‘squirming’ for hours on live television in her role as an ITV pundit as the results come in tonight.

His rallying cry came as Mr Sunak also made an impassioned plea to former Tory voters to return to the party to prevent a ‘socialist supermajority’ wrecking Britain.

Writing in today’s Daily Mail, he warned those considering staying at home today or voting Reform that they would be helping to usher in a period of unchecked Labour power,

Mr Ross said there was never a more important time to unite behind his party.

He added: ‘The key seats where it is going to be either a Scottish Conservative elected as a champion for their local area or a Nationalist MP are on an absolute knife edge, and it will come down to a very small number of votes separating the two parties.

‘That is why it is really important that people get out there and vote, because they could wake up on Friday morning thinking “I didn’t bother to vote but a Nationalist has got in through the back door”. Or if they vote for Reform, Labour or the Lib Dems in these seats then that is only helping the SNP.

‘Given how tight these contests are, it is really important that people unite behind the Scottish Conservatives in these key seats to deliver the strongest possible message that the Nationalists have let down Scotland the last 17 years they have been in power because they have continually obsessed about independence.’

He said he has seen a ‘general apathy’ from some people who are now considering not voting at all – and warned them they will regret not voting if the SNP secures victories by a small margin.

Asked whether these voters could be motivated by the prospect of seeing Ms Sturgeon either celebrating on TV or commentating on the SNP being crushed, he said: ‘Yes, I think that’s a great incentive for people to get out there and cast their vote for the Scottish Conservatives to stop the SNP is to see Nicola Sturgeon on the TV for hours squirming that the party she led, the party that has caused so much division across Scotland and has failed so many people and communities is finally getting its comeuppance.

‘It has been a long time coming and they deserve to lose seats all over the country for the way they have failed public services and taken their eye off the ball by focusing on independence above everything else.’

He said the SNP will struggle to recover from a heavy defeat, and added: ‘This can be the first stage in bringing down the SNP.

‘If we can reduce their numbers in these key seats where it is a straight choice between the Scottish Conservatives and the SNP then that can lead to kickstarting the next campaign, towards 2026, when we can get them out of power in Scotland as well.’

Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy said a vote for any other part – or not voting at all – risked letting the SNP getting in ‘by the back door’.

He added: ‘Voters can crush the SNP and end their independence obsession for good if they vote Scottish Conservative in key seats up and down Scotland where it’s a straight choice between us or the nationalists.’

A detailed Survation poll, which uses data from over 30,000 people across the UK to predict every individual seat, estimated that the SNP is on course to fall to just 10 MPs, compared to 48 after the 2019 general election.

The multilevel regression and post-stratification (MRP) survey model, which uses probabilities to estimate each party’s chances of winning individual seats, predicted that Labour would win 38 Scottish seats, with the SNP on 10, Liberal Democrats five, and Conservatives four.

Individual seat forecasts, which are separate to national projections, suggest the Tories could be on course to win five Scottish seats. They show Mr Ross is on track for victory in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East.

The MRP survey also predicted a Tory win in West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, where UK nuclear and renewables minister Andrew Bowie has been MP, but its lead is projected at just 0.02 per cent. It also forecasts that the Tories will hold three southern Scotland seats: Dumfries and Galloway; Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweedale; and Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk.

The SNP is forecast to win Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey but the Tories are only 3.8 percentage points behind – with Reform polling at 10.3 per cent.

In Gordon and Buchan, the SNP is just 1.3 percentage points ahead of the Tories but with 9.5 per cent intending to vote Reform.

Mr Ross said: ‘People are considering voting for Reform and we are reminding them that Reform can’t win in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East or in any constituency in Scotland. Not a single opinion poll suggests they will win, or get close to winning, in Scotland but they can help the SNP to victory.

‘We are reminding people when they go into the polling booth on Thursday that the risk of voting Reform is electing an SNP MP who will simply obsess about independence.’

David Duguid, who was removed as Tory candidate for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East by senior party officials because of concerns about his health as he continues to recover in hospital from a spinal condition, yesterday said he had been ‘confident’ he would beat the SNP before Mr Ross replaced him as candidate.

He said the decision to remove him as candidate came as a ‘shock’ and claimed that party officials had told him his condition “wasn’t as bad as they had thought”.

Mr Duguid said: ‘I’d be lying if I said events of the last few weeks haven’t taken their toll on myself and my family. But no matter what the future may hold I remain as determined as ever to continue my recovery and rehabilitation.’

On the final full day of campaigning, SNP leader John Swinney urged SNP supporters to get out and vote, and suggested a ‘handful’ of votes could decide close contests around the country.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said Scotland is at a ‘pivotal moment’ and voters are ‘crying out for change’, while Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said many former SNP voters are ‘disillusioned with the scandals and their mishandling of public services’.

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