Nicola Sturgeon has said the SNP are 'ready' to tackle the Conservatives after MPs voted for a snap election.

The First Minister believes that a Scottish majority for the SNP after the general election will show an "unequivocal and irresistible demand" for a second independence referendum.

The party's leader and Scottish First Minister will be in Stirling on Wednesday to join the city's candidate, Alyn Smith, on the campaign trail.

She is expected to vow to "take the fight to the Tories" to keep Scotland in the EU and decide whether to remain part of the UK.

Ms Sturgeon said: "The SNP is ready for an election. We stand ready to take the fight to the Tories, to bring down this undemocratic government, and give Scotland the chance to escape from Brexit and decide our own future.

"Scotland has been ignored and treated with contempt by Westminster, and this election is an opportunity to bring that to an end.

"A win for the SNP will be an unequivocal and irresistible demand for Scotland's right to choose our own future."

The enabling bill still needs to go through the Lords, but country seems set to go to the polls on December 12.

Meanwhile, one of seven Labour MPs north of the border has said it looks as though it will have to be a "Murray Christmas", after the announcement the election would take place during the festive season.

Ian Murray, who represents the Edinburgh South seat, made the tweet having fought off a deselection attempt spearheaded by Unite the union last week.

Jackson Carlaw MSP, interim leader of the Scottish Conservatives, has claimed voting for his party will keep Scotland in the UK.

He tweeted: "The choice for voters is this. Vote @ScotTories to end the division and keep Scotland in the UK. A vote for anyone else risks Nicola Sturgeon winning and pushing ever harder for her unwanted and damaging independence referendum. We are ready and we are determined. #GE19"

It is to be the first general election the Scottish Tories have fought since Ruth Davidson stepped down as leader.

The Scottish Greens have said they will contest several seats, warning it will be "the most important one we've ever faced".

Co-leader Lorna Slater said: "We have just 10 years left to prevent climate breakdown, but Westminster has been taken over by an authoritarian Tory Government obsessed with forcing a disastrous Brexit on the country and doubling down on their climate-wrecking policies.

"Instead of tackling the greatest risk to human life in history, the main parties at Westminster lurch from one crisis of their own making to another, which is why it is more important than ever that we have Green voices in there who are committed to a Scottish Green New Deal, stopping Brexit and building a new progressive future for Scotland."

Meanwhile, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie appeared to show excitement for the upcoming December 12 election through the posting of a dancing monkey Gif on Twitter.

It was captioned: "Election time!!!!"