Mundell and Moore relish Borders election battle

Scotland Office minister David Mundell today paid tribute to the Liberal Democrats he has worked with in the UK coalition government but promised to give "no quarter" to them in the general election.

Mr Mundell, the MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, told the Scottish Tory conference in Edinburgh he had "worked well" with three Lib Dem Secretaries of State since 2010.

As a minister Mr Mundell has worked under successive Lib Dem Scottish Secretaries - Danny Alexander, Michael Moore and now Alistair Carmichael.

Mr Mundell, Scotland's only Tory MP, said: "As I have said before, I admire those Liberal Democrats who supported the difficult decisions we have taken to reduce the deficit, rebalance the economy and control immigration.

"But let's be crystal clear – at the next general election we'll be giving no quarter to the Liberal Democrats in Scotland."

He added: "They wouldn't expect – and they wouldn't want it.

"We'll be targeting them, we'll be fighting them and I hope we'll be beating them."

He highlighted the Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk Westminster seat, currently held by Mr Moore with a majority of more than 5,000, as a key target for the Tories in the 2015 UK general election.

Mr Mundell said he looked forward to campaigning alongside John Lamont, the Tory MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire who has been chosen to fight the Westminster election against Mr Moore "to put the positive Scottish Conservative case to the voters".

Responding to Mr Mundell's speech Mr Moore said he was "looking forward to another battle with the Conservatives in the Borders".

Mr Moore added: "Since David Steel won the seat from the Tories nearly fifty years ago we have had lively contests at each election.

"I take nothing for granted, in the Borders, but believe that the Liberal Democrats best represent the interests of the area in Parliament and I will continue to work hard to show that."

He added: "In addition to our strong commitment to more powers for Holyrood, I believe that local people understand that we have taken some tough decisions in government and we are now fixing the economy.

"But they also get that we have halted the Tories' desire to slash welfare spending and weaken employment protection. People in the Borders know it is the Liberal Democrats who are committed to building the 'stronger economy and fairer society' that we all want."