Rishi Sunak’s ruling Conservatives are still scrambling to find candidates in Dundee and Fife five days after he fired the starting gun on the election campaign.
The party has until June 7 to submit its candidates to local authorities, but none have been identified for the Dundee Central constituency.
Mr Sunak appeared to catch his party by surprise when he announced the election. Tory HQ is searching for candidates in nearly 200 constituencies across the UK.
This includes Dundee Central as well as Glenrothes and Mid Fife and Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy.
Further vacancies have occurred as veteran MPs announced they would be standing down, including senior minister Michael Gove.
It comes after we reported the Conservatives were struggling to find anyone willing to stand in parts of Fife.
Those areas with no candidate are likely to be a two-horse race between the SNP and Labour, but the Conservatives have historically fielded candidates.
Sources in the party say members have been unwilling to put their name forward.
In a scathing assessment, one insider said: “We know he’s not going to do anything, he’s going to lose.
“I couldn’t talk about supporting him as prime minister when I don’t. There’s no integrity in that.”
Speaking to The Courier, SNP leader John Swinney said: “It’s pretty clear the Conservatives have shambled their way into this election in the way they’ve shambled their way through government.
“They’ve got huge candidate gaps around the country and Conservative MPs are leaving.
“It’s illustrative of the fact the Conservatives are an utter shambolic mess. The sooner we are rid of them the better.”
Leaked memo reveals Tory MPs failing to get behind PM
The prime minister has had a rocky start to his election campaign, which he announced in the midst of a downpour as activists blasted Labour’s 1997 anthem Things Can Only Get Better by D:Ream.
And a memo from Conservative Party head office which was obtained by the media revealed MPs had failed to get behind Mr Sunak.
Some are said to have gone on holiday while others have refused to campaign in their constituency.
A third Tory MP is said to have attended a wedding during a campaign week that focussed resources on his constituency.
A Scottish Conservative spokesperson said the party would have candidates in all 57 Scottish seats by this week.
They added: “In key seats across Scotland, voters know that only the Scottish Conservatives can beat the scandal-ridden, independence-obsessed SNP.
“By doing so, we can move the focus away from the nationalists’ fixation with breaking up the UK and on to the public’s real priorities, like fixing our ailing public services and growing the economy.”
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