Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay aims to get party ‘back on the pitch'

Independent

11 hours ago

Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay has insisted his party can 'get back on the pitch' as he set Conservatives the target of increasing their number of seats at Holyrood in next May's election.
Mr Findlay said some wanted to 'write off' the Tories, but he believed they could win seats from the SNP in the 2026 vote, holding out the potential of even ousting First Minister John Swinney from his Perthshire constituency.
While polls have pointed to Nigel Farage's Reform party – which has no seats at Holyrood at present – overtaking the Tories, Mr Findlay made clear he was 'not prepared to accept doom and gloom'.
He promised his party would offer voters a 'a common-sense vision for Scotland's future'.
He set out plans to save £650 million by 'cutting red tape, getting a grip on spending and harnessing business expertise', with the cash to be used to cut taxes for Scots.
He also vowed the Tories would 'scrap' Scotland's 'unaffordable and unachievable' target of reaching net zero by 2045.
Civil service numbers would be slashed by over 11,000, with the Conservative leader promising his party would seek to reduce numbers to the level they were at a decade ago.
And Mr Findlay added he would boost doctor numbers by setting a target to have more Scottish medical students, and tackle classroom violence and improve education with a 'firmer approach' to school discipline.
In his first major conference speech since becoming Scottish Tory leader last year, Mr Findlay said: 'We will aim to take on and defeat the SNP in more constituencies.
'Not just hold on to what we have but win more.'
He added: 'Pundits want to write off our party.
'But I'm an optimist. I'm not prepared to accept doom and gloom.
'Where we are today is not necessarily where we will be tomorrow.
'By working hard, sticking to our values, and holding our nerve, we can and will turn things around.'
The Tories returned 31 MSPs at Holyrood in the last Scottish elections in 2021, and Mr Findlay said the target of winning more is 'optimistic' but 'also realistic if you speak to people'.
He even set his sights on winning the Perthshire North seat of Mr Swinney, saying that while the SNP 'will do everything to protect' its leader there, seats like that 'can be in play for us'.
Speaking at the Scottish Conservative conference in Edinburgh, Mr Findlay said: 'Wouldn't that be some prize? Swinney paying the price for his abysmal record.'
He claimed that Mr Swinney was 'an Amstrad politician in the Apple age', adding the First Minister would 'impoverish Scotland in pursuit of his perverse lifelong desire to destroy the UK'.
Mr Findlay said: 'People like him are why voters have lost trust in politics.'
Next May's election should be a 'referendum on the SNP's record', Mr Findlay said, adding there is a 'binary choice between the change that Scotland so urgently needs or more of the same from John Swinney'.
The Scottish Conservative leader told his party: 'I guarantee that we will stand on a manifesto with funded tax cuts.'
His pledge to save £650 million would be achieved with a Taxpayer Savings Act, and he said the Tories would also 'shut down quangos that don't deliver value' and reverse the £20,000 a year pay rise for Scottish ministers delivered by Mr Swinney'.
Civil service jobs would be reduced to the level of 10 years ago, taking the total from 28,800 to 17,400, the level they were at in the first quarter of 2015, and there would be 'much stricter rules on pay rises' for public sector workers.
In a move similar to US President Donald Trump's creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), Mr Findlay promised to bring in a Scottish Agency of Value and Efficiency (Save) to be run by business leaders 'tasked with wielding a claymore on waste'.
On energy, the Scottish Tory leader said the party would 'scrap the SNP's 2045 net zero target', insisting it is 'unaffordable and unachievable'.
He told party supporters: 'Instead of spending this money on SNP eco projects, we would use it to protect oil and gas workers' livelihoods.'
He said the Tories would 'would take £100 off every household energy bill in Scotland from the proceeds of leasing our waters to wind farms', and would give residents new legal powers to oppose 'mega-pylons'.
On education, he also promised 'less bureaucracy' and said teachers should be free to 'instil discipline… because violence in schools has reached truly horrific levels'.
'We must now take a firmer approach. Exclusions are not cruel, but sometimes necessary.'
To tackle problems in the NHS he said 'the way to deliver more doctors is simple common sense', claiming what is needed is 'more Scottish students training to join Scotland's NHS'.
Arguing Scottish medical students are more likely to work in Scotland after finishing their training than their overseas counterparts, Mr Findlay said the Tories would set a new target for the number of Scottish medical students at Scottish universities.