Perth is to be the only Scotland setting to host a leadership hustings between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss as the race to become the new prime minister gathers pace.
The final two Conservative candidates will take part in the event on Tuesday, August 16.
The former chancellor and the foreign secretary secured the two top slots after a fifth round of voting by Conservative MPs which saw Penny Mordaunt drop out.
Rishi Sunak scored 137 votes, up from 118 last Tuesday. Liz Truss was on 113, overtaking Penny Mordaunt who ended up on 105 votes, leaving just eight votes in it.
The first hustings will be taking place in Leeds on Thursday as the candidates set off to complete a geographical circuit of the UK.
The BBC hosted the first TV debate between the pair yesterday (July 25).
The winner will be announced on September 5 after a postal ballot, completed by around 160,000 Tory party members.
A venue in the Fair City has not been stated yet, but pro-independence campaign group All Under One Banner has already announced plans to hold a demonstration outside the locus.
A similar protest was held at Perth Concert Hall when Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt took part in a leadership hustings in 2019.
In a post on social media, All Under One Banner called for “maximum attendance” at the event. They said: “Whoever wins, we lose.
“Independence is our right to decide.
“Now is the time to exercise self-determination.
“The Tories have no mandate to rule in Scotland.”
Scottish Conservative party chairman Craig Hoy slammed the plans to protest, saying: “No one objects to legitimate protest, but such indiscriminate pile-ons are typical of the worst kind of blinkered nationalist hatred.
“A large proportion of Scottish voters back the Conservatives as the only effective opposition to this kind of bigoted refusal to debate.
“And sensible people of all political views think stunts like these actually undermine the divisive cause these clowns claim to be advancing.”
SNP MP Pete Wishart has in recent days called for pro-independence supporters to show “respect” to unionists while out campaigning ahead of the proposed 2023 referendum.
