In his resignation letter Balfour said vulnerable and disabled people were “not going to be taken seriously” under new Tory policies.
He told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “I think too many people are coming in, are drafting policies who don’t really understand the issues.
“We know that social security budget needs to be looked at, but the leadership has just taken the view of ‘let’s just cut benefits’, without looking at what those benefits do – what effect that will have on employment, what effect it will have on individuals.
“It was a very easy headline to be grabbed, But the work below that has not been done and the work that I and others have done, has just been ignored.”
Balfour said he was yet to decide whether to stand as an independent in next year’s Scottish Parliament elections, but ruled out representing the Reform party.
He said some of his colleagues would be “sympathetic” to his decision and accused Findlay of “not grasping” the Scottish Conservative vision.
“It’s the Conservatives who have moved, not me,” he added.