Ruth Davidson has unveiled a campaign to save Britain in a bid to mobilise Scotland’s two million No voters.
The Scottish Conservative leader attacked the Better Together campaign she was part of by vowing there would be “no more project fear” from the new movement.
But Ms Davidson was attacked by her opponents for offering “no policies, no vision and no change” in a document which concedes next month’s election to the SNP on its second page.
She said: “If the SNP carries out its threat to launch its summer initiative for independence, then the clear pro-UK case [must be] made as well. And it’s a case that must be made far, far better.
“Too often over recent years our case for the Union has simply been a matter of picking at the flaws of independence, of dissecting the numbers, rubbishing the projections or disputing proposals.
“Easy, but ultimately not enough. Too often we have failed to make the case for why our family of nations works.
“And the legacy from the referendum is that we on the pro-UK side allowed ‘No thanks’ to be seen as a constant negative.
“If we are to counter the SNP’s mis-information, this must change. The case for independence is dead. The case for the Union must now be made.”
The Tories’ “programme for opposition” is based around 10 pledges, including an additional £300 million to improve mental health treatment, a triple lock on NHS funding, scrapping controversial Named Persons legislation, and a £1 billion investment to ensure that “every home is a warm home”.
John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister and SNP campaign director, savaged the plans.
He said: “Ruth Davidson admits her manifesto isn’t a programme for government and that her party have no intention of setting out a detailed plan on how they would run Scotland.
“That is irresponsible and disrespectful to voters, who deserve better from the Tories than a long list of things they are against and virtually nothing about what they are for or what they would do given the chance.
“Ruth Davidson’s party have no serious policies, no vision for Scotland and there has been no change in the Tory brand, which remains as toxic as ever in Scotland and which voters will utterly reject in three weeks’ time.”
Scottish Labour equalities spokesman Neil Findlay added: “Ruth Davidson wants to take Scotland back to the arguments of the past because she has nothing to say about using the powers to stop the cuts.
“It was only a few weeks ago that the Tories claimed to be in a ‘taxpayers’ alliance’ with the SNP – neither of them want to use the new powers to ask the wealthier to pay more to invest in public services. That simply isn’t good enough.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie claimed the biggest financial investment the Scottish Tories want to make is in tax cuts for the highest earners to be “carbon copies” of Chancellor George Osborne.
He added: “Scotland deserves better. The Conservative tax cuts for the rich and stealth tax increases for everyone else are unfair to people in Scotland.”
Scottish Greens co-convener Patrick Harvie said: “The Tories’ unconditional support for fracking and a fossil fuel economy, and their record of forcing more households into fuel poverty, deserves the contempt of the electorate.”