One of Perth’s best known councillors is to contest the Perth and North Perthshire seat at the forthcoming general election.
The selection of Alexander Stewart by the Conservatives means he will be going head to head with sitting MP Pete Wishart in May.
At the launch of his campaign, the Perth City councillor claimed it would be a “two-horse race” between himself and Mr Wishart.
The sitting member was reselected recently by the SNP as the sole nominee, with the backing of all 11 branches of the party within the constituency.
Once a Conservative bastion, the seat fell to Mr Wishart in 2010, when he won by 19,118 votes to the Tories’ 14,739. Labour received nearly 8,000 votes and the Lib Dems almost 6,000.
Mr Stewart, 52, said: “I am delighted to have been selected for my home constituency of Perth and North Perthshire. It is a great honour and I will do all I can to challenge the separatist agenda of the SNP.
“I played a full role in the Better Together campaign in the years running up to the referendum in September and felt huge pride when Perth and Kinross voted with an overwhelming 60% No vote.
“This is a strong base on which I will build my campaign.
“The constituency is a two-horse race between the Nationalist candidate and myself and I am looking forward to working morning, noon and night to win the seat.
“As a local man with a successful track record of serving this community, I am well known as a vocal and visual campaigner on local issues and I understand the challenges and opportunities that face Perth and North Perthshire.
“There is much to be done over the coming weeks and I have the commitment and drive and enthusiasm to fight and win this seat and put an end to the SNP drive to ensure Scotland becomes an independent country.”
Mr Stewart was joined at the launch of his campaign by Perth and Kinross Council Conservative group leader Mac Roberts and MSPs Murdo Fraser and Liz Smith.
Mr Fraser described the candidate as “a champion for local communities”.
“I think we have an excellent local candidate in Alexander Stewart, a long-standing local councillor,” he said.
Ms Smith added: “No one could doubt his commitment to the area.”
For Mr Wishart, this will be his third election campaign for the Perth and North Perthshire constituency and his fourth in a Perthshire seat.
He said of his reselection: “I have represented constituents in Perthshire since 2001 and it is an immense privilege and honour to have been selected to fight the Perth and North Perthshire Westminster constituency once again.
“In the course of the campaign I will outline my priorities and use the campaign to highlight several local issues from across the constituency but an early priority for me is to work to ensure that Perth becomes Scotland’s first living wage city.
“In the course of the next few weeks I will be talking to businesses and trades unions about how this can be progressed.”
Labour and the Lib Dems have yet to announce their candidates.