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What's on at the Scottish Conservative conference?

What's on at the Scottish Conservative conference?

Throughout the by-election campaign Reform and the SNP repeatedly stated the contest was a "two horse" race between their two parties. But while Labour managed to prove their rivals wrong, the Tory result only highlighted the poor situation the party was in less than a year away from the Holyrood elections.
It will be Russell Findlay's first conference as party leader having succeeded Douglas Ross in September last year and pressure will be on the former crime reporter to turn around his party's fortunes before polling day.
What's on the conference programme?
On Friday the main event will be an address to the party faithful by UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch.
Like Mr Findlay, Ms Badenoch is a relative newcomer to the role of party leadership having succeeded Rishi Sunak in just November last year.
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In her message to members ahead of her keynote speech she insisted the party is "under new leadership and determined to do things differently".
Mr Findlay is also appearing on Friday in what is billed as an "in conversation with" where the Scottish Tory leader chairs a discussion with fellow MSP Murdo Fraser on "standing up for Scottish hospitality".
When is Mr Findlay's speech?
Another big moment at the conference will be the Scottish leader's address.
Mr Findlay is due to address his party's grassroots on Saturday morning.
He will seek to draw a line under the party's dismal performance at the general election and last week's by-election, boost morale and seek to position his party as the chief opponents of the SNP - and Labour - ahead of polling day next May.
"The left wing, high-tax approach of the SNP and Labour has failed Scotland for decades. People just wants common sense in politics. They're fed up with the Scottish Parliament and its fringe obsessions such as gender ideology and breaking up the United Kingdom," said Findlay in his message to party members.
What else is on the conference agenda?
Subjects for discussions on Saturday in the main conference include "restoring" standards in Scottish schools, why the SNP's "soft touch approach to justice" isn't working and how to tackle Scotland's housing emergency.
There will also be debates around how Holyrood could be improved after 26 years of devolution, and on Sunday MSP Craig Hoy will chair a discussion on tax and public services delivery.
And despite the early Saturday 8.30am start a fringe meeting held by For Women Scotland is expected to draw a large audience.
The group was behind a long-running battle with the Scottish Government over the definition of "woman" in the Equality Act defeating SNP ministers at the Supreme Court in April
when judges unanimously ruled that a woman is defined by biological sex under equalities law in a ruling excluding trans women from the definition in the law.

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