'We are the party of the union who stand up for Scots and want to fix our NHS and schools - NOT Reform,' says Scots Tory leader Findlay

Daily Mail​

4 hours ago

After a bruising by-election result last Thursday, Russell Findlay faces a big week as he attempts to start the fightback for next year's Holyrood elections.
The vote in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse showed the scale of the challenge for the Scottish Conservatives, with the party finishing fourth and picking up just six per cent of the vote - a lower vote share than the party even had in the constituency on its darkest night in 1997 when it was wiped off the electoral map north of the Border.
The fact that Reform secured more than a quarter of the votes and finished narrowly behind Labour and the SNP worsened the blow..
But the former journalist is now preparing for one of his biggest set piece events since becoming Scottish Tory leader by 'playing Murrayfield' this weekend.
He won't quite have the same audience that Oasis will command later in the summer, but the Scottish Conservative conference at the national rugby stadium will be his opportunity to respond to the twin threats of Nigel Farage 's insurgent Reform UK party and an SNP which has been in power for nearly two decades
But the former journalist is now preparing for one of his biggest set piece events since becoming Scottish Tory leader by 'playing Murrayfield' this weekend.
Mr Findlay, who become leader last September, acknowledges that his party was 'crowded out' in the by-election but insists that a focus on 'common sense' policies and fixing fundamental problems created by 'two decades of SNP misrule' can allow the Scottish Tories to bounce back and help remove John Swinney from office next year.
Despite the SNP now being regarded as the Establishment in Scotland following 18 years in power and Reform benefiting from an anti-Establishment backlash, Mr Findlay insists that both are similar in their attempts to capitalise on the same brand of divisive nationalist politics.
He said: 'Nigel Farage is just like Swinney and Sturgeon - he's a populist, he will agitate and he will seek to inflame differences between people.
'We've lived with the SNP for decades and we know their tactics, we know what they are up to: they try to pit Scot against Scot and this is what Farage is doing; he's trying to sow division.'
Reflecting on the causes of the rise of Reform from nowhere to 26 per cent of the vote in last week's by-election, Mr Findlay accepts that it was partly down to many voters being 'still in no great mood to hear from our party' because 'there is a lot of disappointment with what we got wrong over our time in government' - and also cited frustration at the 'absolute chaos' of the early days of the Labour government.
'I think it has fed this sense that politics is broken, politicians are all the same, and people feel just completely scunnered and I completely get that', he said.
'I see Nigel Farage as a complete and utter chancer but I can see why people think that the parties - my party and other parties - have let them down.
'But a cold analysis of the facts show that we are the party that stands up for the Union, we are the party that stands up for hard-working Scots, we are the ones that want to fix Scots' broken education system and indeed the NHS, not Reform.'
In a full throttle attack on the Reform leader, he said Mr Farage 'seems to be more friendly with Vladimir Putin than he is towards the sanctity of the United Kingdom'.
'You just have to look at the chaos engulfing that party to see that it really is a one-man ego trip,' he said. 'He is not remotely interested in Scotland.
'When his deputy (Richard Tice) turned up at a Glasgow chippy and couldn't even tell us the name of the two defectors from our party, I think that was indicative of the complete disinterest they have in Scotland.
'There are also candidates as we know at the general election who were pro-independence, there were candidates who were anti-monarchy.
'Even Nigel Farage can't work out what he is - one minute he's a free market conservative of sorts, the next minute he is a free-spending Corbynite.
'He is essentially the same as the SNP - they are both populists, they will both say anything to anyone and they will blame someone else for their own problems. It has worked for John Swinney for decades and that is what Nigel Farage is doing.'
He also criticised the current push from Reform to consider whether there needs to be a ban on wearing the burqa, which engulfed the party in another major row and more infighting.
Mr Findlay said: 'It really isn't a very conservative policy to start trying to tell people what they can and can't wear - I mean maybe Nigel Farage will try to ban the kilt next.
'I understand the many circumstances where face coverings are problematic, we've seen that in some of the demonstrations for example, but I think police already have the powers in place to deal with that.
'This call that his new MP (Sarah Pochin) made perhaps betrays the reality of some of the thinking within Reform. It is pretty illiberal to start dictating what you can and can't wear on the streets of Britain - we are a free country.
'It appears to have been policy made up on the hoof, it resulted in the party chairman exiting it seems, and then apparently coming back, but it is something that does not sit at all comfortably with me.'
Mr Findlay said he remained largely silent as a race row erupted over Reform UK's advert claiming that Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar would 'prioritise the Pakistani community', saying he didn't want to do anything to 'amplify' its video message, but believes it highlighted Reform have 'nationalist, divisive and unpleasant individuals'.
Despite the significant challenge from Reform, he still believes his party can perform well in key target constituencies and on the regional list across Scotland and says he is 'fully committed in 2026 to getting the SNP out and giving Scotland the change it needs'.
He rejected claims from Reform defector Thomas Kerr that the Scottish Tories are no longer interested in the central belt, saying it is 'nonsense', and vowed to start winning back voters who have stopped supporting the party.
He said: 'The worry I have is that Scotland might seesaw between one form of inefficient wasteful socialist government coloured yellow to one coloured red. We really can't afford to keep putting into power these high-tax parties who have no interest in aspiration and don't have the wherewithal to stand up to the vested interests in the trade unions, for example, whether on education, health and justice.
'We need to show the people of Scotland that there is an alternative way, it doesn't have to be like this, we don't have to accept this miserable mediocrity inflicted on Scotland by the SNP.
'So many people in Scotland are conservative with a small c - they like our policies, we just need to persuade them that putting their cross in the ballot box beside our name is in their best interests.'
He also railed against the 'lanyard class' who have dominated Scottish politics, saying he wants to get Holyrood working for the public rather than the politicians.
With pressure already growing on the party's leader Kemi Badenoch, he insisted he still has full confidence in her leadership as they both attempt to 'reset' the relationship with the public as part of a major rebuild.
While some Tory leaders have at times stayed clear from Scotland during Holyrood election campaigns, Mr Findlay insists Ms Badenoch will 'play a part' even though he will be the 'main focus' leading the push for votes.
In a warning shot to plotters at Westminster or Holyrood, he said: 'I think if anyone thinks that further internal plotting is in any way helpful to our party they need their heads examined.
'We need to unite. People are not interested in politicians' or political parties' internal grievances and egos and personalities. It's about putting your shoulder to the wheel and working together to help deliver the results that we need in Holyrood next year and indeed in the next general election.'
He concedes that, with the election now less than a year away, a key challenge will be getting himself known - and persuading the public he is different to the other leaders.
Until 2021, he was 'deliberately anonymous' as a journalist investigating organised crime, and in 2015 he had acid thrown in his face on the doorstep of his Glasgow home by a hired hitman carrying a knife, in an attack witnessed by his young daughter
'I'm not yet a household name,' he said, although he joked: 'I have been subject to some squirmingly awful BBC parodies so maybe I've reached a sufficient level of fame in the bubble to qualify for acknowledgement.'
Although he would rather the focus was on what his party stands for and would rather levels of fame or recognition were not a factor, he accepts it is 'part of modern politics' - and will try to use his own unique selling point of having had a career outside of politics to differentiate him from the other leaders and appeal to those disgruntled voters who want change at Holyrood.
Mr Findlay said: 'I'd like to think that me not being a career politician is perhaps a good thing because I can see things from the perspective of ordinary people who are sick and tired of the way Holyrood doesn't address their interests or doesn't seek to fix the problems in their lives.'