Which seats are the Scottish Tories targeting in the election?

The Scottish Conservatives were facing a difficult election this summer but SNP leader John Swinney may have thrown them a lifeline. In choosing to attack Holyrood’s standards committee for proposing a 27-day suspension for nationalist MSP Michael Matheson, Swinney has put his party on the wrong side of public opinion. Matheson was censured for running up an £11,000 data bill on his parliamentary iPad during a family holiday in Morocco and trying to have the taxpayer cover it. Swinney claims the standards process was prejudiced by one of the committee’s members and says he will oppose its recommendations.

This has been a welcome surprise for the Scottish Tories. A senior party figure tells me: ‘Matheson has huge cut-through. The voters see Swinney opposing a sanction they don’t think is enough.’ This matches what others say: Matheson is coming up on the doorsteps and the punters are not happy about it. It feeds into the impression that, after 17 years in government in Scotland, the SNP considers itself above the rules.