• Ruth Davidson ignites the election campaign as she issues electrifying rallying cry to Mail readers

Pro-UK voters can ‘get rid of the SNP’ and end demands for independence for good at the General Election, Ruth Davidson has declared.

In her first major intervention since Rishi Sunak called the election, the former Scottish Conservative leader attempted to rally Scots Unionists by telling them they can end the independence debate ‘once and for all’.

She said the election offers those who back the UK ‘the chance that we have all been waiting for over the last decade’ and that they can make July 4 the day Scotland is ‘free of the SNP’.

Baroness Davidson is seen as a key weapon for the Scottish Tories who can help appeal to voters across vast swathes of Scotland.

She will also personally write to hundreds of thousands of voters in key Tory target seats.

Writing in today’s Mail, Ms Davidson said: ‘This election in Scotland is a huge opportunity for pro-UK voters. This is the chance that we have all been waiting for over the past decade.

‘We can finally get rid of the SNP in seats up and down Scotland. We can put an end to their demands for independence – for good.’

The Tories are seeking to hold the six seats they won at the 2019 general election and are also targeting others where they believe they are best placed to beat the SNP.

They are mainly focused on the North-East of Scotland, where there has been a backlash against the SNP and Labour’s opposition to new North Sea developments, and across much of the Borders and southern Scotland.

Existing Tory seats include the redrawn Aberdeenshire North and Moray constituency where outgoing leader Douglas Ross is standing, Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, currently held by Scotland Office Minister John Lamont, and West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine held by nuclear and renewables minister Andrew Bowie.

Key Tory targets currently held by the SNP include Richard Thomson’s Gordon and Buchan seat, the Angus and Perthshire Glens constituency held by Dave Doogan, Perth and Kinross-shire, the constituency of the SNP’s longest-serving MP Pete Wishart, and Brendan O’Hara’s seat of Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber.

Ms Davidson will write to voters in target seats to plead with them to back the Tories to defeat the SNP. She is also set to feature prominently on the campaign trail, knocking on doors.

A Tory source said: ‘People still have a huge reaction to her and our people love to see her out. They have really fond memories of her taking it to Nicola Sturgeon and still have a lot of respect for her.

‘She is the perfect person to deliver the message on the campaign trail, for sure.’

A Norstat poll at the weekend put Labour ahead in Scotland on 34 per cent, followed by the SNP on 30. Support for the Tories fell two percentage points to 14, with the Lib Dems on 9 and Reform UK on 7 per cent.

In her article for the Mail today, Ms Davidson, referring to Nicola Sturgeon’s role as a commentator on ITV’s election night coverage, said: ‘I want to switch on the telly that night and see her face as she realises her push for independence is finished.’

SNP deputy leader Keith Brown said: ‘Ruth Davidson’s comments smack of desperation as she can’t even bring herself to mention the toxic Tories who have inflicted 14 years of austerity, Brexit and a cost-of-living crisis on people across Scotland.

‘People will not be surprised at an unelected Baroness trying to squash democracy and Scotland’s chance to build a fairer society as an independent country.’