Willie Rennie has taken to waterskis to illustrate a “rising tide” of support for the Scottish Liberal Democrats ahead of the European elections.

The party leader claimed a vote for the Lib Dems was a vote in opposition to Brexit during his campaign visit to Waterski and Wakeboard Scotland in Dunfermline, Fife, on Tuesday.

Mr Rennie said support for the Liberal Democrats has been increasing in the run-up to the election on Thursday so he chose to take to the waves to show that.

He said: “With just days to go until the European election we are seeing a wave of support for the Liberal Democrats.

“People want a party who are clear and unambiguous about their support for remaining in the EU.

Willie Rennie waterskis
The Scottish Liberal Democrat leader making a splash (Andrew Milligan/PA)

“It’s about the rising tide of the Lib Dems. We’ve got more and more people rallying behind us to try and stop Brexit.

“They’ve had enough of the damage and the division in the country and they want to bring it to an end.

“The best way to bring it to an end is to back the Liberal Democrats.”

European Parliament election
Mr Rennie said his experience was ‘exhilarating’ (Andrew Milligan/PA)

One European election poll shows the Conservatives and Labour are languishing in joint-fourth place in Scotland.

Just one in five Scottish voters said they will back Labour or the Tories in the upcoming election, with Ruth Davidson’s party set to lose their one MEP.

The SNP lead the YouGov poll with 38% of the forecast vote share, which would secure them three of Scotland’s six MEPs.

Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party are in second place, followed by the Scottish Greens, who are looking to win their first MEP.

Across the UK, the poll of 9,260 people by YouGov and Datapraxis
commissioned by Best for Britain and Hope not Hate had the Brexit Party on top, with twice the share of the vote of the second-placed Liberal Democrats.

Mr Rennie, who described his water-skiing experience as “exhilarating”, added: “Change UK’s David MacDonald has stressed that Remain voters need to unite behind the Liberal Democrats and even Labour and Conservative grandees are voting for us.

“So many Labour and Conservative voters are lending their votes to the Liberal Democrats because their own parties have let them down. Meanwhile people are turning away from the SNP because they do not their votes to be twisted as support for independence.

“We are into the final stretch of the campaign. Let’s elect a Scottish Liberal Democrat and make the chaos of Brexit stop.”