Farage's Reform will ‘let the SNP in', Badenoch warns
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has warned Scots that Nigel Farage's Reform will 'let the SNP in'.
She said 'Scottish people deserve better' than another five years of John Swinney's party in power at Holyrood.
Hitting out at Reform – which claimed on Friday to now have 11,000 members in Scotland – she said for Mr Farage's party, the union between Scotland and England is 'just not that important'.
In contrast, Mrs Badenoch stressed the Conservatives will 'always be proud' of the union.
'Our party will always be ready to protect Scotland's place in the United Kingdom,' she added.
She claimed for Labour and Sir Keir Starmer, belief in the union is 'negotiable', like 'every so-called promise' the Prime Minister makes.
Speaking at the Scottish Conservative Party conference in Edinburgh on Friday, Mrs Badenoch said: 'We know that when it really matters, like on gender or free speech or taxes, Labour will fold and vote with the SNP.'
She went on to say: 'In April this year, Nigel Farage said he would be fine with the SNP winning another five years in power.
'He's fine with another five years of higher bills, longer waiting lists, declining school standards, gender madness, and ultimately, independence.'
Addressing her first Scottish conference since taking on the top job, Mrs Badenoch claimed: 'Reform will vote to let the SNP in, Conservatives will only ever vote to get the nationalists out.'
Her speech came just over a week after a Holyrood by-election in which the Tories came fourth, well behind Reform in third.
Meanwhile an opinion poll has suggested Mr Farage's party could come second in next May's Holyrood election.
In that ballot, Mrs Badenoch said Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay will 'put forward a different way of doing things to the SNP and Labour'.
She promised the Tories will fight the election on a platform of 'positive new policies to fire up economic growth, create opportunities for workers and businesses, reward aspiration with lower taxes, and improve school standards'.
Mrs Badenoch told the conference: 'Under my leadership, and with Russell Findlay in charge in Scotland, my party knows where it stands.
'With your help, we will renew Conservative policies with common sense.'
She accepted in her speech the Tories in power at Westminster 'didn't always get things right'.
But Mrs Badenoch insisted her election, coupled with Mr Findlay taking over to head the Scottish party last year, mean they are 'under new leadership'.
She told supporters the Tories will 'once again represent everyone across Scotland and the United Kingdom who believes the same things that we do'.
Adding that she is 'renewing this party', she declared: 'This speech isn't about looking back. It's about the future. Our future.'
Part of that 'positive vision of the future' includes 'standing up' for the North Sea oil and gas industry, with Mrs Badenoch claiming that by increasing the energy profits levy – also known as the windfall tax – the Tories had introduced, Labour is 'killing the oil and gas industry'.
Speaking about the levy, she said: 'Frankly if it is allowed to remain in place until 2030, as is Labour's current plan, there will be no industry left to tax.
'Thousands will have been made unemployed and all the while we import more gas from overseas – from the very same basin in which we are banned from drilling.'
She called on the UK Government to remove the energy profits levy, as she added that the Tories would also 'scrap the ban on new licences' for oil and gas developments that has been imposed since Labour came to power.
'We will champion our own industry,' Mrs Badenoch told supporters.
'We will let this great British, great Scottish industry thrive, grow and create jobs – ensuring our energy security for generations to come and making Scotland richer in the process.'
She also pledged the Tories will spend more on defence, saying this is crucial as 'our world becomes even more dangerous'.
Citing conflict in the Middle East as well as in Ukraine, Mrs Badenoch said it 'becomes even harder to understand why Labour didn't use the spending review this week to set out a clear plan to get to 3% on defence spending'.
The Tories, she insisted, will 'stand by Scotland's defence industry to build the security equipment and systems that keep us safe'.
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