Former Tory MP, David Duguid has claimed he would have won his seat from his hospital bed had the party stuck with him as a candidate.

The ex-Banff and Buchan MP was deselected for the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East constituency, and replaced by party leader, Douglas Ross.

In his first interview since suffering a spinal stroke earlier this year, the former UK government minister said he would have won the seat that Mr Ross lost to the SNP.

He said the decision to allow Mr Ross to stand instead meant the SNP focused more of their efforts on the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East constituency.

After Mr Duguid's injury, he was moved to a specialist spinal unit in Glasgow back in May and was prepared to campaign for his seat.

However, after a from a Scottish Conservative official, the decision was made to drop him as a candidate on health grounds.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Duguid said when Mr Ross was announced as his replacement, it was "going to make it even worse."

"The SNP, who weren’t necessarily going to pay that much attention to Aberdeenshire North and Moray East, now are going to throw everything at it because Douglas Ross is now the candidate."

Mr Duguid claimed the SNP wanted to take a "scalp" at Mr Ross, meaning more of the Scottish Tory's efforts were put behind the seat.

He argued that this focus might have been better placed in another candidates seat and believes the Conservatives "might have won" had this happened.

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