Andrew Bowie: Coalition with Reform is worst thing we can do

The Herald Scotland

21 hours ago

'We do need to apologise for the mistakes that were made,' he told The Herald. 'But we also need to know when to draw a line under that and move on.
'The whole sackcloth and ashes approach, the self-flagellation, the mea culpa — it has its place. But we are at the point now where we need to turn the page and move forward.'
He added: 'We need to say, right, that was then. Mistakes were made. But this is what we are going to do in the future. This is our optimistic, forward-looking vision for the United Kingdom in the 2030s.'
READ MORE:
The West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine MP was speaking ahead of the Scottish Tory conference, which kicks off in Edinburgh today.
Kemi Badenoch will address delegates this morning for the first time as party leader. She will use her speech to demand an end to the windfall tax on oil and gas firms, and the lifting of bans on new licences and technology exports.
She will accuse Labour of 'killing' the sector by extending the energy profits levy, arguing it no longer targets genuine windfalls and now threatens the industry's future.
In her foreword to the conference programme, the Leader of the Opposition says she and new Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay have 'both been honest with the public about the mistakes our party made in government'.
'We know we need to work hard to earn back the trust of people who felt we lost our way and stopped representing them.'
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch delivers a speech about the European Convention on Human Rights at the Royal United Services Institute in central London (Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA) Last week, shadow chancellor Mel Stride publicly distanced the party from Liz Truss and her mini-budget, with its £45 billion package of tax cuts, which spooked financial markets.
Mr Stride said 'mistakes were recognised' but admitted 'the damage to our credibility is not so easily undone'.
Ms Truss replaced Boris Johnson, who resigned after losing the confidence of many of his ministers following a spate of scandals — including the Partygate controversy and his handling of allegations against his deputy chief whip, Chris Pincher, who drunkenly groped two men in a private members' club.
Mr Bowie said his party needed to offer a clear alternative — both to the Labour government and to the SNP at Holyrood.
'I think people want to hear from us: what is the alternative to this Labour government? What is the alternative in Scotland to the SNP? Frankly, what is the alternative to a centre-left dominated politics that we have had since the creation of the Scottish Parliament?'
He continued: 'You may or may not be a Conservative supporter, but I do think there is a mood in Scotland that things are not working as well as they could.
'Since devolution, we have had this dominance of a single train of thought when it comes to political ideology and an approach to doing government.
'The Constitution is separate, obviously. But from Labour, the LibDems, the SNP and the Greens, there is a dominant left-wing approach to governance and civil society. And I do think that maybe Scotland is right for a change — and we need to be the ones making that case.'
Mr Bowie admitted his party faced a challenge from Reform UK.
Yesterday, another Scottish Tory councillor defected to Nigel Farage's party. Lauren Knight, who represents Huntly, Strathbogie and Howe of Alford became the sixth Aberdeenshire Tory to jump ship.
Nigel Farage's party recently came third in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, taking 26% of the vote. The Conservatives were far behind on 6%.
Asked how he planned on tackling Reform, Mr Bowie said: 'If I had the silver bullet, or if I had the answer to that, I would be a very wealthy man indeed.
'Countries across the world are struggling with the rise of populist politics. We see that in France, Germany, Sweden, the United States — all across the developed world, populist parties and politicians are tapping into an undercurrent of disenchantment with the establishment.
'Across the West — indeed any incumbent government that oversaw the Covid-19 pandemic — has suffered serious losses in the subsequent elections, because society was deeply affected in ways I do not think we have fully examined.'
Ms Badenoch at BAE systems in Govan. Andrew Bowie and Russell Findlay behind her. (Image: Jeff) Mr Bowie said the Conservatives had to respond by 'winning the battle of ideas'.
'We need to say, right, OK, fine. Your simple solutions to incredibly complex problems may sound great on the doorstep or in a 20-second TikTok video, but actually how are you going to deal with the deep-rooted problems we face as a country? How are you going to promote growth? What are you going to do to create the jobs of the future?'
Mr Bowie said there was no chance of a deal with Reform UK — either at Holyrood or Westminster.
READ MORE:
Last month, the party's leader in the Senedd, Darren Millar, said he would be open to working with other parties if it meant seeing the Conservatives in government in Wales.
'The very worst thing we could possibly do would be to countenance an agreement or coalition-style deal with Reform,' Mr Bowie said.
'Reform is not a Conservative party. They are a populist party. They are not a Unionist party and they are not a serious party. They offer simple solutions to incredibly complex issues.
'You have a leader who has said his main aim is the destruction of the Conservative Party.
'We are a party of over 200 years' history and experience in government. We are a party that is serious about returning to office in four years' time.
'We are a party that thinks deeply and cares passionately about the issues facing this country and its future.
'And for all those reasons and more, I cannot countenance a time when we would be relying on Reform UK to ensure the continued survival of this party.
'Frankly, I think it would be the very worst thing that we could do.'
He said striking a deal with Mr Farage risked damaging 'the electoral coalition which we desperately need to regain, should we be lucky enough to win power back at Westminster'.
'Let us not forget in 2015 we won that first majority since 1992. A lot of those seats came at the expense of Liberal Democrat MPs. So we have got to be cognisant of that.'
In the interview, Mr Bowie also backed Ms Badenoch's decision to commission a review into whether the UK's membership of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is hampering the government's ability to tackle illegal immigration.
'As a minister, I was surprised how difficult it was to get things done because of the prevailing threat of judicial review or activist legal action.
'And so we need to see what we can do to make government run more efficiently and be more accountable, because the democratically elected government of this country has a duty to the people who elected it to implement the plans it set out in a manifesto — without the threat of being dragged through the courts on every single decision, at the cost of sometimes millions of pounds to the taxpayer.'
Reform came third at the Hamilton by-election, with the Tories a distant fourth (Image: Getty Images) Despite recent turbulence — including the UK party's worst electoral result in modern history — Mr Bowie said morale within the Scottish Conservatives had improved under Russell Findlay and Kemi Badenoch's leadership.
'Of course, there are disagreements. Of course there is discussion, and sometimes passions become inflamed because we are talking about something which we deeply care about — the future of our country.
'I am quite proud of the fact that a lot of the discussion that we have as a party is held in the open. We do not have any secrets. Those arguments are held in full public view.
'Now, unlike the SNP, we do not preclude our Members of Parliament from taking a different view on an issue to another and being able to express that publicly, of course.
'There is a difference between that and the utter chaos we saw with the multiple changes of leader at the UK level — and the lurching from one policy on Brexit to another, and the failure to get the government's agenda across the line, especially in the days of Theresa May.
'That is not healthy. That is not helpful. And Members of Parliament have a duty to — yes, disagree, yes, debate — but also remember that they are charged with governing this country in a sensible and managed manner. And frankly we lost that during the last election.'