Hung parliament a nightmare for UK, says Tory candidate

Tory candidate Stephen Kerr has described a hung parliament as a “nightmare scenario” for the UK.

Speaking on Sunday Politics Scotland, Mr Kerr said that if no party wins an outright majority in Thursday’s poll, it would continue the deadlock in Westminster.

However, Mr Kerr, who is standing in a marginal Stirling seat he won in 2017 with a majority of just 168, said he was “quietly confident” the Conservatives would return a majority.

He said: “(A hung parliament) is a nightmare scenario for the country.

“In any situation like that, it’s really bad news for the country.

“I’m afraid that’s the last thing that any of us should want.”

Mr Kerr said his party had not had any “overtures made” towards them from other parties willing to support a minority government, insisting they were looking to win a majority.

He also said, if there were a hung parliament, then the SNP would “stitch up” a deal with Labour, triggering a second independence referendum.

He said: “I can’t see us doing a deal with anyone, I personally couldn’t, that’s my personal view.

“I think we need to have a majority party in power in the House of Commons, because frankly the last two-and-a-half years has proved that a hung parliament is a nightmare.

“These blockages and this dither and delay has really turned people off.

“They’re sick to the back teeth of politicians grandstanding.”

Stephen Kerr BBC
Stephen Kerr BBC

In November, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said there would be a mandate for another independence referendum if the SNP were to win a majority at Holyrood in 2021, before rowing back on his comments soon after.

When asked about the comments on Sunday, Mr Kerr said: “To be fair to Alister, he later clarified that and it’s very clear.

“The Scottish Conservative and Unionist position is that we had a referendum in 2014, everyone signed up in the Edinburgh agreement saying it would be once in a lifetime, once in a generation, now Scotland expects its politicians to get on with the business of government.

“The Secretary of State corrected the record… our position is no to a second independence referendum, not in 2020, not in 2021, not ever.

“The people of Scotland have had enough of referendums, they are so divisive.

“This is just politicians grandstanding, quite frankly, and I think that the people have had enough of the egotistical behaviour of politicians.”

The Labour Party has also ruled out any formal pacts with other parties, saying it will expect the likes of the SNP and the Liberal Democrats to vote through its budget and Queen’s Speech to ensure the Tories cannot form a government.

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