Alex Salmond has accused the Tories of making "vainglorious boasts" about their chances of winning his seat in the General Election, as he warned Ruth Davidson she could be brought "back down to earth with a bump" by the voters.

After a record result in the Scottish local government elections, where they returned 276 councillors, the Conservatives now have seats such as Mr Salmond's Gordon constituency and the Moray seat of SNP depute leader Angus Robertson in their sights.

Ms Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, has already declared her party has a "pretty good" chance of winning the Moray constituency.

And on Saturday she campaigned in Gordon, where the former first minister and SNP leader is the candidate.

Ms Davidson insisted then: "We won the local government election is Gordon this week, beating the SNP into second place. It means that in this seat, as in many others, it is a two-horse race between us and the Nationalists.

Mr Salmond conceded that support for the Conservatives is on the rise in Scotland - but claimed "presumptuous announcements" by the Tories would only seek to boost support for the SNP.

"There's no question the Tory vote is on the increase and therefore we have to galvanise the SNP support," he told Press Association Scotland.

"The Tories are helping us in their rather presumptuous announcements that they're going to win the seat.

"I have to say I'm delighted, the effect is to galvanise the SNP support."

Speaking in Ellon as he launched his campaign to be re-elected on June 8, Mr Salmond stated: "I said the Tory support was on the rise, it should be said in Gordon constituency we got more councillors in than the Tories, we got 11 councillors to their nine and six for the Liberal Democrats."

The former first minster continued: "I've never taken any election battle for granted, I've represented the north-east of Scotland for 30 years and every election the Tories tell me they are going to beat me and every time they fall short.

"Also in the north-east of Scotland it's not the greatest thing to boast you're going to win beforehand, the folk here tend to bring them back down to earth with a bump

"And that I think will happen to the Tories. Boasting before an election is an extremely foolish thing to do. The people have their say at the ballot box and I think the north-east of Scotland has a way of bringing people who make vainglorious boasts down to earth with a sharp bump."

Mr Salmond said after his campaign launch he would be "hitting the doorsteps, pounding the pavements, getting stuck in".

But he criticised Theresa May for her decision to call a snap election - something the Prime Minister had previously vowed not to do

The former SNP leader said: "I think most people would have said that was a bad decision for the Prime Minister to break her word on the election, but as my dad always says you play the ball as it lies, and where the ball lies is we're fighting an election campaign and we intend to fight it and to win it."

He also criticised Mrs May's "controlled" style of campaigning

"The lack of television debates, the refusal of the Tory Party to debate, the refusal to meet ordinary people during the campaign - people don't like that style of controlled politics, it's deeply cynical," he said.

He insisted he was standing on a "positive record of achievement" - highlighting projects such as the construction of a new city bypass for Aberdeen which is being done by the SNP in government.

"There's been a transformation of the infrastructure of the north-east of Scotland, things that should have been done in the decades before have been built or are being built by the SNP."

But he also said it was the SNP who could provide "real opposition" to the Conservatives at Westminster, slamming "divisive Tory policies targeting the poor, people with disabilities and the vulnerable - things like the rape clause, abandoning the triple lock in pensions".

Mr Salmond insisted: "People don't want untrammelled hard Toryism. And simply with the European issue hard Tory Brexit would cost this constituency dear, one of our greatest industries is the food and drink industry, we're heavily invested in the European market place and we need to keep that European market place and a hard Tory Brexit would be hugely damaging.

"So people want to see real opposition to a Tory government at Westminster."

With Nicola Sturgeon, who succeeded him as First Minister, calling for a second Scottish independence referendum to be held, Mr Salmond also said he was standing for "the Scottish Parliament being the place and the Scottish people having the right to decide their own future".

He stated: "Things should be decided in our parliament and it shouldn't be attempted to be reduced to a cipher as Theresa May would like to do."

"There's three things - a record in this area with visible evidence of it taking shape before our eyes, real opposition to the Tory Government at Westminster, the sort of opposition that Labour has been unable to provide, and thirdly the backing of our parliament as the place where Scotland's future should be decided."

But Labour's Ian Murray insisted the "Sturgeon surge" in support for the SNP was now over.

Mr Murray, who was the only Scottish Labour MP elected in 2015, said: "The SNP failed to win a single majority on any council. This is a party which two years ago got 50% of the Scottish vote.

"Even areas that voted Yes in 2014 are now saying 'no thanks' to a divisive second independence referendum."

Mr Murray, who is fighting to retain his Edinburgh South seat, added: "We need a government focused on the day job, creating jobs and protecting our public services.

"The council election results make it clear that in vast parts of Scotland, including areas like Edinburgh South, only Labour can stop the SNP.

"Scotland needs Labour MPs who will fight for jobs and investment, not Tory MPs who want a blank cheque for a hard Brexit or SNP MPs who will only fight for a second independence referendum that Scots don't want."