Scottish Tories needed a new message - has Findlay found it?

Russell Findlay denies the party lurched to the right since he became leader

'Nothing is off the table', new Conservative leader Russell Findlay says, as he pledged to look at where savings could be made in public services.

Setting out his stall earlier in his first major speech since becoming party leader, Mr Findlay said his party would make the case for tax cuts and a smaller state, that would be a “markedly different approach” to the “left-wing consensus” in the Scottish Parliament.

He also called for all the parties at Holyrood to return to the “common ground” of “people’s hopes, concerns and aspirations” and the “issues of relevance to mainstream Scotland”.

But at the same time, he felt the need to deny that his party had lurched to the right since he became leader last month.

This indication of the future direction of the Scottish Conservatives was badly needed, as the party has struggled to position itself since opposition to a second independence referendum stopped being a major vote winner.

Indeed, in a measure of how much has changed, the only mention of independence was to note that it had not been mentioned.

When one journalist referred to the “i-word”, he was, in fact talking about immigration rather than independence.

The party needed a new message.

Findlay was elected as Scottish Tory leader last month

Russell Findlay’s proposition is tax cuts, a smaller state and what he describes as “common-sense” policies.

He said the case for reducing the tax burden was not only economic but “moral”.

Savings could be made in areas such as the baby box, giving out ibuprofen and paracetamol on prescription and reducing the number of commissioners and public bodies, he suggested.

But he made clear that even university tuition fees and free prescriptions are not off the table.

He also made clear he stood unashamedly by policies such as opposing the early release of prisoners, wanting money to be spent on schools in Scotland rather than Africa, and not giving free bus travel to asylum seekers when pensioners were having cuts to their winter fuel payments.

It is policies such as these that have fuelled accusations of a move to the right, but Russell Findlay disagrees.

These were not “right-wing”, he said, but something most families in Scotland would see as “right”.

They were mainstream, common-sense views.

And none these views are particularly new. It’s not so much a change of policy as a change in prominence. Russell Findlay is prepared to put them front and centre.

Dissenting voice

It’s a statement of intent and an attempt to answer the question of what the Scottish Conservatives are for and what they would do, rather than just what they stand against.

And more than just holding their own against the other parties currently in Holyrood, it’s a clear nod towards the challenge they are facing from Reform UK.

Positioning the Scottish Conservatives as the straight-talking outsiders who are challenging the cosy status quo at Holyrood and speaking up for ordinary working people is clearly designed to appeal to those who might be looking to Reform.

It’s also a chance to set themselves up a the true opposition, the only dissenting voice in a bunch of left-wingers.

Russell Findlay claimed that nearly two decades of the SNP had dragged the Scottish Parliament “far off” the true centre ground and “many in Holyrood have lost sight of what’s truly important in homes across Scotland”.

With the 2026 Holyrood election around the corner, Russell Findlay will be hoping he really has identified the missing element that voters are looking for.