DAVID CAMERON claimed yesterday that the “collapse” of Scottish Labour means that the Tories are “now the only party that can challenge the SNP” at May’s Holyrood elections.

Speaking at the Scottish Conservative Party conference in Edinburgh, the Prime Minister said his party is the “only party fit to expose these spendthrift, out-of-touch, dogmatic, inept nationalists,” pledging: “Over the next 62 days we will fight to become the official opposition.”

His comments come as opinion polls suggest the SNP is on track to widen its majority this May while the Tories are gaining ground on Labour.

But Campaign for Socialism secretary Martyn Cook slammed the Prime Minister’s claims, telling the Star that rather than challenging the SNP the “Tories and nationalists sing from the same hymn sheet.”

He said: “We saw that last week when the SNP voted through George Osborne’s austerity cuts without seeking to add a single penny to the Budget.”

Mr Cook said that during the SNP’s early years in government “it was the Tories that the SNP relied on to pass their budgets, which tells you a lot about both of them.”

He accused the Tories of pursuing austerity policies that the SNP is “quite happy” to pass on, adding “the only party that looking to challenge that this May is Scottish Labour.”

SNP MSP Linda Fabiani accused the Tories of being “completely out of step with opinion in Scotland” with their “appalling track record on the economy, social security, the constitution and so many other issues.

“Rather than helping matters, David Cameron’s day-trip north is sure to be filled with the same right-wing rhetoric and devotion to austerity that pushed Tory support to its lowest point in Scotland since 1865.”