Badenoch calls for 'electoral defeat' of SNP at Tory conference
She told delegates: 'The SNP has presided over falling standards in education, healthcare and shocking levels of drug deaths.
'This is not a party that Scotland needs so we need to bring about their electoral defeat because the Scottish people deserve better.'
Their conference in Edinburgh comes after they placed fourth in the recent Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election won by Scottish Labour.
Coming behind Reform UK, SNP and Labour, their vote share dropped by almost 12% in comparison to the Scottish Parliament election results in 2021.
The Scottish Conservatives have also faced mounting defections with 15 of their councillors moving to Nigel Farage's Reform UK.
It is understood their party currently has around 6,500 members.
READ MORE:
Scottish Tories face 'existential crisis' from Reform rise
What's on at the Scottish Conservative conference?
Today, Ms Badenoch and the Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay insisted their party was "under new management" and said they will focus on restoring trust to Scottish politics and beyond.
The UK Conservative leader said: 'Keir Starmer says he was right to cut winter fuel payments, and also right to restore them. He just can't bring himself to say, 'I got it wrong'.
'When politicians refuse to hold their hands up, even when their mistakes are glaringly obvious, people lose trust.
'So, we will do things differently because we know that the public lost trust in politicians who can never admit when they're wrong.
"People are fed up with hearing big promises that will never be delivered. They're frustrated by the lack of focus on what matters most in their everyday lives.
Ms Badenoch added: 'Scotland needs Conservatives now more than ever."
The UK Conservative leader also hit out at what she described as the "cosy left-wing consensus" dominating Scottish politics.
She told delegates: "We have seen Scotland decline under the rule of left-wing parties that stokes division and the politics of envy."
Mentioning the SNP fifteen times in her speech, the UK Conservative leader said John Swinney's party "remain obsessed with breaking up our country" through Independence as she said the Conservatives would never see "more devolution" as the answer to problems facing Scots.
Ms Badenoch also said her party will stand by Scotland's defence industry as she told the Scottish Conservative conference that Labour should have set out a 'clear plan' on how to get to spending 3% of GDP on defence.
The Tory leader said: 'I want you to know that our party will always be ready to protect Scotland's place in the United Kingdom, especially when it comes to defence.'
She said Russell Findlay would 'put forward a different way of doing things' in next year's Holyrood elections.
Ms Badenoch concluded her speech by saying: 'Let's be honest about where we went wrong in the past. But let's be optimistic about what we can put right in the future.
'The Conservative & Unionist Party is ready to fight for a common-sense future for Scotland and an even stronger United Kingdom.'
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