The National:

THE Tories have reacted in outrage to a new SNP campaign advert asking how far their party can be trusted.

The advert focuses largely on the Conservatives in London, detailing the UK Government’s recent record of “lies, self-interest, cronyism, sleaze, cover-ups and incompetence”.

It highlights the billions of Covid contracts handed to “mates” of Tory ministers, the millions of items of unusable PPE those contracts resulted in, the £20 cut to Universal Credit which pushed hundreds of thousands into poverty, the partygate scandal, and the National Insurance tax hike.

READ MORE: Comparison to Scotland shows scale of public cash 'wasted' by Tories on PPE

After listing the litany of failures following on from Boris Johnson’s General Election victory in 2019, the advert’s host says: “The Tory record is a long list of lies, self-interest, cronyism, sleaze, cover-ups and incompetence.

“Which brings us to a very important question. Just how far can we trust the Tories?”

A Scots granny, named Betty, is then introduced. She is presented with a mannequin dressed up as a Tory candidate, which she then attempts to toss.

However, Betty fails to do much more than knock the plastic politician over, prompting the voiceover to say you can trust a Tory “about as far as you could throw them”.

Responding to the video, Scottish Conservative chief whip Stephen Kerr accused the SNP of having “to stoop to such personal and unpleasant politics”.

He added: “The SNP seem to have made a bet to see how many times they can shout about the Tories.

“Next they’ll be blaming the Tories for forcing them to make such a negative, bitter advert.”

If Kerr is annoyed at the SNP putting out an advert that's openly anti-Tory, wait until he hears about the latest Scottish Conservative election drive.

An SNP spokesperson said: "I guess the truth hurts - you can't trust the Tories.

"After months of lies, cronyism and hypocrisy, the cost-of-living crisis is biting just as people get ready to cast their verdict on Tory policies that leave hundreds of thousands of Scots struggling with their daily lives."