English voters can’t vote in Scottish elections
In the run-up to Thursday’s polling day, the Scottish Tories spent a lot of money advertising to English voters.
According to Facebook’s advertising records, the party dropped a staggering £4-4.5k on an ad that claimed “the best way to beat the SNP” is to vote Scottish Conservative.
The advert reached around one million registered users, but 80 per cent of them were in England, with just nine per in cent in Scotland.
The SNP described the costly mistake as a sign of “incompetence” and the digital equivalent of the Scottish Tories paying for promo in an English newspaper.
“Over the last year we’ve been neck and neck with the SNP in local elections,” the advert told English voters. “On Thursday, vote Scottish Conservative to beat the SNP and get all of the focus onto your local priorities”.
The SNP said the error was indicative of Douglass Ross’ “awful campaign”.
“This level of incompetence demonstrates just how badly his campaign has come off the rails,” they said. “The Scottish Tories have splurged thousands of pounds on digital election ads and less than one in 10 of the people that have seen them are voters in Scotland.
“This is the digital equivalent to the Scottish Tories paying for ads in English newspapers. Showing this level of incompetence with their own finances, it’s little wonder the people of Scotland are refusing to trust them with the public’s.”
Counting is currently underway in Scotland has begun after voters turned out to elect more than 1,200 councillors to the country’s 32 local authorities.
It’s thought the SNP could be on track for their best ever local elections performance, while the Scottish Tories may suffer as voters react to recent scandals in Westminster.
The Scottish Tories have not responded to request for comment.
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