Scottish Conservatives pledge 'skills revolution' to rebuild after Covid

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has called for a "skills revolution" to rebuild Scotland in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Tory MP wants a £500 "Retrain to Rebuild" grant to be available for people to learn new skills.

He said the scheme could help those who are currently unemployed, anyone facing redundancy, and workers earning less than £30,000.

Mr Ross announced the proposals in his speech to his virtual party conference.

He believes the scheme could be open from 2023 onwards and could help up to 100,000 Scots in its first two years.

"Obviously there's a scheme already in place in Scotland through the individual training accounts, but they're only up to £200 and it's capped at 28,000 places a year," Mr Ross told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme.

"So we are suggesting that we go up to £500 per individual and we want to extend that in the first two years to be available to 100,000 people, and then make it a universal beyond 2023."

• Ross: SNP are planning 'reckless' referendum

• Hurdles ahead for Johnson and Sturgeon

Mr Ross said there would be job losses as Scotland emerged from the pandemic and he wanted to ensure that people had "all the tools available" to retrain.

He told BBC Scotland that 930,000 jobs had been protected through the furlough scheme and self-employed income support.

"We hope the majority of those stay in work, but we've got to look at alternative schemes for those who sadly lose their jobs," he said.

"I think this support to retrain, to get people back into employment, is the right way to direct our resources going forward."

As well as setting out Conservative policies for Covid recovery, Douglas Ross used his online conference address to repeatedly attack the SNP.

Why? Because the Tories' primary task in the forthcoming election is not to win power (much as they would like to) but to stop the SNP winning a majority of seats at Holyrood.

If they can do that, they think it would be harder for Nicola Sturgeon to press the case for indyref2 and easier for other parties to keep a minority SNP government in check.

Mr Ross has promised a relentless focus on SNP shortcomings after 14 years in power, not least on their mishandling of harassment complaints against Alex Salmond.

That he hopes will taint both Nicola Sturgeon and her party who otherwise enjoy high levels of public support according to the trend in opinion polls, with less than eight weeks to the Holyrood election.

In his speech, the Scottish Conservative leader also called for a "catch-up plan" for schools backed by £120m in funding, along with the recruitment of 3,000 more teachers.

With a Holyrood election due on 6 May, Mr Ross also pledged a new funding model for local councils, a new law to protect victims of crime and an end to the "not proven" verdict, extra infrastructure investment including a three-lane M8, and to end rough sleeping by 2026.

He said: "There should be no doubt that the SNP will claim a majority as a mandate to hold another divisive independence referendum.

"In what world would this be the right thing for Scotland's recovery, a Covid-referendum, being fought while people are still getting their second jag?

"We should be focused on rebuilding one brick at a time, using the strong foundations of the United Kingdom to help us do it."

Boris Johnson claimed the SNP had no "sense of priority" over the pandemic

His speech comes a day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressed the conference, which is being held online amid lockdown restrictions.

In his own speech, Mr Johnson insisted the Conservatives were the "only party that can cut the SNP down to size".

The prime minister said Scotland's focus should be on efforts to rebuild the UK after Covid, rather than another referendum on independence - but said the SNP had an "obsession" with constitutional debates.

He said: "The SNP want to divide us, to turn Scotland against itself, at this of all times. I just find it incredible then that the SNP would choose this moment to again push their campaign for separation.

"Just when everything is beginning to reopen again, when we will soon be reunited with our friends and family, the SNP think that this is the time to turn us all against one another."

'Divisive arguments'

Mr Johnson's comments came less than two months before the Scottish Parliament elections, with Holyrood set to break up next Wednesday for campaigning to begin.

SNP MSP George Adam said: "The Tories' hypocrisy truly knows no bounds.

"While the SNP has led the way in tackling inequality, helping those out of work or on low incomes with a new social security system based on dignity and respect, our progress is being severely undermined by Tory cuts."

He added: "The best way to secure a Covid recovery which is fair for everyone is by putting Scotland's future in Scotland's hands - not Boris Johnson's."

Mr Ross said Scottish Labour were "weak on the union" and were "too scared to stand up to the SNP" - but leader Anas Sarwar said his was the only party truly focused on national recovery and unity.

He said: "Boris Johnson's Conservatives want to take us back to the old divisive arguments.

"They want us to argue with each other rather than focus on the priorities of the Scottish people - creating jobs, a comeback plan for education and rebuilding our NHS."

Scottish Liberal Democrat campaign chairman Alistair Carmichael said: "The Scottish Conservatives are all smoke and mirrors. Douglas Ross is proposing a new retraining scheme mostly funded by just shuffling around money from existing programs."