EXCLUSIVE Confident Kemi says: 'We can beat the SNP in constituencies across the country... anything can happen'

Daily Mail​

12 hours ago

Kemi Badenoch has insisted the Scottish Conservatives could beat the SNP in constituencies up and down the country at the Holyrood election next year.
The UK Tory leader suggested the party would take the fight to the Nationalists at the 2026 parliamentary vote, adding: 'Anything can happen.'
In an interview with The Mail, Ms Badenoch said the Scottish Conservatives - led by her colleague Russell Findlay - could make gains beyond their traditional supporter base in the North East and in the Scottish Borders.
It comes as in a speech to the party's conference at Murrayfield, Edinburgh, on Saturday Mr Findlay laid bare his ambitious plans to oust First Minister John Swinney from his Perthshire North constituency - as well as SNP MSPs in Ayr and Moray.
Last night, Ms Badenoch said the party's position on repealing Labour 's 'family farm tax', the energy profits levy and its strong position on the ' gender debate' offered a clear alternative to voters.
The UK leader - who replaced Rishi Sunak in November - said: 'I think there's very, very clear blue water between us and the SNP between us and Labour...the Conservative Party is very clear on what its offer is.'
Such optimism was palpable in her Friday speech to conference delegates on Friday, during which she said the party needed to bring about the SNP's 'electoral defeat'.
Asked if she truly believed the Scottish Conservatives were able to beat the SNP in the Holyrood election, she said: 'Yes, anything can happen'.
She continued: 'People look at what's happening in a particular moment, and assume it's always going to be like that.
'But we're not going to beat them by joining with them. We're going to beat them by having a better offer.'
Such fighting talk comes despite a Survation poll in May suggesting the Tories are likely to return fewer MSPs than Nigel Farage's Reform party at the Holyrood vote next year.
According to projections from Professor Sir John Curtice the SNP would return 58 seats and the Conservatives fewer than half their current group, returning 13 MSPs compared to its current crop of 30.
Reform, meanwhile, would move into second place as the main opposition party on 21 seats.
A recent litmus test of Tory support, the Hamilton by-election, saw the party slip into fourth place behind Reform - and was viewed by some pundits as evidence that Mr Farage's party posed an existential threat to the Tories' electoral fortunes.
Mr Findlay yesterday dismissed what he labelled as 'pointy head' pollsters, which he said had been proven wrong in the past.
And while Ms Badenoch is keenly aware of the rise in popularity of Reform - even warning in her speech to conference at the end of last week that Mr Farage is a threat to the Union because he does not care about more SNP rule - she insisted that 'everybody is a competitor' ahead of the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.
She said: 'We live in a multi party era; we're going to be fighting for every single vote; we're not singling any party out.'
However, unable to resist being drawn on how she might describe the First Minister John Swinney in three words, the UK Tory leader was characteristically robust.
'Not. An. Option,' she said.
Both Ms Badenoch and Mr Findlay hope a display of humility and contrition to voters over mistakes made in government is key to boosting support for the party.
Asked how she can prove to Scottish voters who appear to have switched to Reform that they need the Scottish Tories, Ms Badenoch said: 'By winning back their trust, and we will do that by being very honest about where we made mistakes.
She said: 'The windfall tax [on oil and gas company profits] was one example.
'I often use immigration as another. We've come up with a whole new set of policies on immigration - which are much tougher - stopping people who have not contributed in our society from getting benefits, which act as a pull factor; not making British citizenship so easy to get, which is another pull factor.
'So we are changing our policy - but we're being very honest, in a way that the other parties simply are not being.'
She added: 'The way we win is by rebuilding trust, winning back that trust, but showing who we are, what we stand for, whose side we're on and having an offer that's actually going to work.'
On Saturday, in his first major conference speech since becoming Scottish Tory leader, Mr Findlay said he was an 'optimist' and that he was 'not prepared to accept doom and gloom'.
Speaking of his party's hopes to win the First Minister's Perthshire North seat, he teased: 'Wouldn't that be some prize? Swinney paying the price for his abysmal record.'