THE Scottish Tories effectively gave up defending Ruth Davidson’s seat against the SNP at the Holyrood election, official spending figures suggest. Despite the then-Tory leader winning the Edinburgh Central constituency in 2016, her party was outspent by the SNP and a Scottish Labour long-shot in May. Returns filed by the candidates also show the Scottish Greens virtually abandoned the pitch in Edinburgh Central after splitting the vote and helping the Tories win five years ago. Their spending fell 98 per cent compared to 2016. It followed warnings from the SNP not to vote Green in case history repeated itself. Edinburgh was the most intense political battleground in Scotland in May, with half of its six seats Unionist-held marginals which were heavily targeted by the SNP.