Watch as Russell Findlay sets\u00a0our common-sense plan to stop the SNP, defeat their push for another independence referendum and get Scotland back on track.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Watch the speech below<\/p>\n
\ufeff<\/p>\n
Full speech text<\/p>\n
Good morning,<\/p>\n
I was here at Murrayfield last Saturday.<\/p>\n
It was a day of thrills, high drama and euphoria.<\/p>\n
And let me tell you \u2013 I reckon that today at Murrayfield will be just as exciting.<\/p>\n
The only difference being \u2026 I\u2019ve not had a can of Tennent\u2019s Lager for breakfast.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve spent the past year travelling to all corners of Scotland.<\/p>\n
Speaking with people from all walks of life.<\/p>\n
And with you, our members.<\/p>\n
You are the beating blue heart of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party.<\/p>\n
Without you, our members and our activists, we are nothing.<\/p>\n
So I thank you.<\/p>\n
I also want to thank everyone who has spoken at conference.<\/p>\n
None more so than our leader Kemi Badenoch.<\/p>\n
People are seeing what she is made of.<\/p>\n
And they like what they see.<\/p>\n
Intelligence and integrity.<\/p>\n
Duty and decency.<\/p>\n
Kemi looks much more like a prime minister than the actual prime minister.<\/p>\n
Can you believe that Sir Keir Starmer is still in Downing Street?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve just checked \u2013 he still is.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n
Larry the Downing Street cat probably can\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n
Anas Sarwar certainly can\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n
Because after less than two years, Starmer\u2019s Labour government is in a state of meltdown.<\/p>\n
And after almost 20 years, John Swinney\u2019s incompetent SNP government has trashed Scotland.<\/p>\n
Kemi Badenoch regularly gives Starmer a right doing at PMQs.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a good Scottish expression \u2013 a right doing.<\/p>\n
And she\u2019s got the measure of John Swinney too.<\/p>\n
During Kemi\u2019s speech yesterday, Mr Swinney\u2019s ears must have been burning.<\/p>\n
Conference, I\u2019m old enough to remember devolution was sold as being \u2018the best of both worlds\u2019.<\/p>\n
And it should be.<\/p>\n
But look at what we\u2019ve got.<\/p>\n
Keir Starmer. And John Swinney.<\/p>\n
Now, last time we met here at the home of Scottish rugby, I gave my first conference speech as Scottish Conservative leader.<\/p>\n
You graciously tolerated my atrocious rugby jokes and puns.<\/p>\n
But I don\u2019t think you\u2019ll let me get away with that again.<\/p>\n
So I will not be making any clumsy comparison between the mesmerising, much-loved, match-winning, superstar talisman Finn Russell \u2026 and anyone with a similar name!<\/p>\n
Back then, Kemi and I were still smarting from the 2024 general election result.<\/p>\n
We all were.<\/p>\n
We all knew that we had a big job on our hands to rebuild trust.<\/p>\n
But I was confident.<\/p>\n
I knew that we needed to remember our values, and to reconnect with them.<\/p>\n
Our values of fairness and freedom.<\/p>\n
Of aspiration and opportunity.<\/p>\n
To ask ourselves this question: What is the purpose of government?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s to give people the skills and opportunities to thrive.<\/p>\n
To protect us on our streets and in our homes.<\/p>\n
To be there for when we\u2019re sick or in genuine need.<\/p>\n
But government should know its limits.<\/p>\n
We believe that people, not politicians, know what is best for them and their families.<\/p>\n
We trust people to raise their kids, to spend their own money, to behave with decency.<\/p>\n
We believe that people should be able to enjoy the rewards of hard work.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what guides me.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s what guides Kemi Badenoch.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s what makes us Conservatives.<\/p>\n
I first stood for election in 2021 because of my anger and despair.<\/p>\n
My anger and despair at what the SNP has done to our country.<\/p>\n
My grown-up daughter was just a baby when the SNP came to power.<\/p>\n
She is part of a whole generation of Scots who know nothing else.<\/p>\n
We are at a pivotal moment with a critical Holyrood election on the 7th of May.<\/p>\n
The prospect of five more years of the SNP is all too real.<\/p>\n
It fills me with dread, but it also motivates me.<\/p>\n
For the sake of Scotland, we need to get the SNP out of power.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d like to ask, what words would you use to describe the SNP?<\/p>\n
Careful now, we\u2019re being recorded.<\/p>\n
And there are some fairly delicate live criminals proceedings \u2026<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s some \u2026<\/p>\n
Incompetent.<\/p>\n
Weak.<\/p>\n
Dishonest.<\/p>\n
Wrong. About everything.<\/p>\n
I could go on, but there\u2019s not a Thesaurus big enough.<\/p>\n
I would also like to ask: What is the greatest of all the SNP\u2019s many failures?<\/p>\n
We could be here all day but hear me out.<\/p>\n
Is it their trashing of Scottish education \u2013 with young people leaving school unable to read or write?<\/p>\n
With violence and disruption rife in the classroom.<\/p>\n
Children being brainwashed with nonsense about gender and taught to hate our own proud history.<\/p>\n
Or is the SNP\u2019s biggest failure the desperate state of Scotland\u2019s NHS?<\/p>\n
Damaged by a succession of dismal health secretaries \u2026 Nicola Sturgeon, Humza Yousaf, Michael Matheson, Neil Gray.<\/p>\n
One in seven Scots are on a hospital waiting list.<\/p>\n
Cancer treatment times and A&E targets year after year.<\/p>\n
Damning statistics that don\u2019t tell the personal stories of misery, pain and loss.<\/p>\n
Or is the SNP\u2019s biggest failure Scotland\u2019s neglected and decrepit transport system?<\/p>\n
Streets cratered with dangerous potholes.<\/p>\n
Promises repeatedly broken to upgrade lifeline roads like the A9, A77, and A96.<\/p>\n
The stinkingly corrupt CalMac scandal costing taxpayers almost half a billion pounds for two dodgy ferries.<\/p>\n
If John Swinney got out of his chauffeur-driven government limo he\u2019d see the reality for Scotland\u2019s long-suffering commuters.<\/p>\n
Or is the SNP\u2019s biggest failure Scotland\u2019s justice system?<\/p>\n
Victims and witnesses traumatised by chronic court delays and thousands of prisoners freed early.<\/p>\n
Police officers exhausted and disillusioned. The thin blue line stretched to breaking point.<\/p>\n
Gangsters flaunting, with impunity, their vast, dirty profits made from Scotland\u2019s record drugs deaths.<\/p>\n
Education, NHS, transport, justice.<\/p>\n
The list of SNP failures is breath-taking.<\/p>\n
It is obscene.<\/p>\n
It is a tragedy for Scotland.<\/p>\n
But the SNP are not just incapable of delivery.<\/p>\n
They are ideologically hidebound.<\/p>\n
Blinded by their own flawed beliefs.<\/p>\n
And blinkered to contrary evidence and hard facts.<\/p>\n
Cult-like, they have always worshiped at the altar of independence.<\/p>\n
And they now have a new faith-based conviction \u2013 gender identity.<\/p>\n
How much time and energy is wasted on their pretence that men can magically transform into women just by saying so?<\/p>\n
The SNP, backed by Labour and the Lib Dems, passed Nicola Sturgeon\u2019s ridiculous gender self-ID law.<\/p>\n
It was our party who called this out.<\/p>\n
It was our party who said, \u2018enough of the nonsense\u2019.<\/p>\n
Thank you Alister Jack, and Kemi Badenoch.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s Conservative common-sense.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court has since vindicated our position.<\/p>\n
But despite the court\u2019s clarity, ordinary women still pay the price.<\/p>\n
Just ask Sandie Peggie, a Fife nurse targeted by NHS managers for refusing to change alongside a male doctor.<\/p>\n
We also remain the only party that can be trusted to protect our fundamental right of free speech.<\/p>\n
Do you remember when Police Scotland unleashed the \u2018Hate Monster\u2019?<\/p>\n
The Hate Monster was a product of Humza Yousaf\u2019s Hate Crime Act.<\/p>\n
A truly ludicrous character \u2026 the Hate Monster (well, and Humza too).<\/p>\n
This spurious law stifles free speech and encourages vexatious police complaints about words causing hurt feelings.<\/p>\n
Police Scotland still records \u2018non crime hate incidents\u2019 \u2026<\/p>\n
As my colleague Murdo Fraser knows after he cracked a harmless joke.<\/p>\n
Humza\u2019s hate crime law was yet another example of the SNP\u2019s wrong priorities.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s another.<\/p>\n
They find \u00a32million of taxpayers\u2019 money to give every asylum seeker in Scotland a free bus pass.<\/p>\n
And at the same time, they dither over taking a free bus pass from a thug who killed bus driver Keith Rollinson.<\/p>\n
But conference, steel yourselves.<\/p>\n
Because I\u2019m going to tell you where the SNP are really, really, really wrong.<\/p>\n
John Swinney, Humza Yousaf, Nicola Sturgeon.<\/p>\n
All wrong. And the rest of them.<\/p>\n
The only thing they truly care about is breaking up our United Kingdom \u2013 the greatest nation on earth.<\/p>\n
The SNP have never accepted our decisive referendum victory of 2014.<\/p>\n
They have never respected our polite but firm \u2018no thanks\u2019.<\/p>\n
They have never focused on the day job.<\/p>\n
Their obsession has cost Scotland dearly.<\/p>\n
They use Holyrood as a platform to peddle petty grievances and to stoke division with the rest of the UK.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be fooled by the experts who tell you that independence is no longer a threat.<\/p>\n
Because John Swinney is going into this election with one goal and one goal only.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s the same goal that he has always had.<\/p>\n
And that is to secure another vote on breaking the bonds of our country.<\/p>\n
Just yesterday he said that, and I quote, \u201cindependence is now within reach\u201d.<\/p>\n
John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon have always put their party\u2019s interests ahead of what\u2019s right for Scotland.<\/p>\n
The Scottish Conservative & Unionist party will strain every sinew to stop them.<\/p>\n
A question I often get asked is how do the SNP get away with it?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s partly because they shirk accountability by pretending they\u2019re in opposition.<\/p>\n
They blame the UK government for their problems.<\/p>\n
They manufacture disputes with the UK government.<\/p>\n
They needlessly diverge from the UK government.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll give you an example.<\/p>\n
NHS patients elsewhere in the UK have access to a free app to book appointments, order prescriptions and get medical help \u2026<\/p>\n
But Scottish patients are stuck in the analogue age \u2013 because the narrow-minded SNP rejected a UK-wide app.<\/p>\n
Only a few weeks ago, John Swinney was bleating about another phoney slight.<\/p>\n
He complained that he wasn\u2019t briefed about a UK-US military operation against a sanction-busting oil tanker linked to Putin\u2019s murderous regime.<\/p>\n
Any excuse for manufacturing a row with the UK government.<\/p>\n
Exhausting. Distracting. Pathetic.<\/p>\n
Stop whingeing, Mr Swinney.<\/p>\n
Get on with the day job.<\/p>\n
The SNP\u2019s incompetence and refusal to focus on the right things angers me.<\/p>\n
Their secrecy and stoking of division appal me.<\/p>\n
Their cover-up culture disgusts me.<\/p>\n
Right now, Scotland\u2019s information commissioner is taking John Swinney\u2019s government to court.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because the SNP refuses to release documents relating to the government\u2019s probe into Alex Salmond.<\/p>\n
What do the SNP have to hide?<\/p>\n
Release the Sturgeon files.<\/p>\n
Talking of hiding, and mindful of live criminal proceedings, how do you go about hiding a gigantic campervan? Allegedly.<\/p>\n
The SNP\u2019s toxic culture has contaminated Scotland\u2019s public sector.<\/p>\n
A fish rots from the head down.<\/p>\n
Look at the scandal of the Lord Advocate tipping off John Swinney about a serious criminal case against Nicola Sturgeon\u2019s husband.<\/p>\n
The public were kept in the dark.<\/p>\n
While this information gave the SNP political advantage.<\/p>\n
This Lord Advocate was appointed to the SNP government by Nicola Sturgeon and was kept in post by John Swinney.<\/p>\n
In the real world, people can see that this smacks of corruption and I will not be afraid to say so.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why Kemi and I will work together to end the perverse conflict of interest created by the Lord Advocate\u2019s dual role.<\/p>\n
For years, Glasgow\u2019s NHS board denied links between patient deaths at Queen Elizabeth University hospital and contaminated water.<\/p>\n
They bullied whistleblowers.<\/p>\n
Deceived grieving families.<\/p>\n
Offered bribes of cash and trips to Disneyland.<\/p>\n
Caused years of distress and heartache.<\/p>\n
Only towards the end of a \u00a330 million public inquiry did they start telling the truth.<\/p>\n
Thirty million pounds of your cash wasted on lawyers.<\/p>\n
It should have been spent on frontline care if only the health board had not adopted the SNP\u2019s culture of secrecy.<\/p>\n
The SNP\u2019s instinct to lie and to cover-up is costing us dear.<\/p>\n
They boasted that more than half of Scots pay less income tax than they would if they worked in England. Not true.<\/p>\n
That Scotland has the greatest potential for wind power in Europe. Not true.<\/p>\n
In fact, you can safely assume that anything the SNP says about energy is not true.<\/p>\n
In 2014, their independence campaign was based on fantasy estimates about the price of oil.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re now spinning a new big lie about energy.<\/p>\n
Cheap renewable energy will cut bills by a third, they claim.<\/p>\n
But ask them for evidence and they go quiet.<\/p>\n
Because there isn\u2019t any evidence. Because it is not true.<\/p>\n
It is the latest big lie from the SNP.<\/p>\n
SNP ministers routinely mislead the public \u2013 but John Swinney gives them a free pass.<\/p>\n
In recent times there was a minister who misrepresented an expert on grooming gangs.<\/p>\n
A minister who abused taxpayer-funded limos to go to the football.<\/p>\n
A minister who lied about a \u00a311,000 iPad data charge.<\/p>\n
None of them sacked.<\/p>\n
The SNP\u2019s instinct is always to circle the wagons, to deny, to double down, and treat the public with contempt.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve had nearly 20 years of this.<\/p>\n
Yet we appear to have become numb to it all.<\/p>\n
Numbed by the waste, the incompetence, the lies.<\/p>\n
Enough is enough.<\/p>\n
The SNP are eroding trust in Scottish politics.<\/p>\n
People look at Holyrood and see an expensive talking shop.<\/p>\n
A place which has been dominated by out-of-touch left-wing parties.<\/p>\n
People are disillusioned.<\/p>\n
I get that, I truly do.<\/p>\n
But I know \u2013 as you do \u2013 that Reform UK are not the answer.<\/p>\n
They have no core values or fixed principles.<\/p>\n
They won\u2019t tell us their policies or how they\u2019ll deliver them.<\/p>\n
They don\u2019t even want you to know who their candidates are.<\/p>\n
So what do we know about Nigel Farage and Lord Offord, the man he appointed as their leader in Scotland?<\/p>\n
We know they\u2019re happy to have pro-independence candidates.<\/p>\n
We know they\u2019re relaxed about another independence referendum.<\/p>\n
Lord Offord has even given the SNP a road map to break up the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
And Reform politicians have the nerve to drape themselves in the Union Flag and say they\u2019re a Unionist party.<\/p>\n
Aye, right!<\/p>\n
But conference, are you really surprised? I\u2019m not.<\/p>\n
It would be no surprise if Nigel Farage one day came out and overtly backed Scottish independence.<\/p>\n
They are not a true Unionist party and never will be.<\/p>\n
The Union is not in their DNA as it is in ours.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll not fight to save the UK, as we did before, during and after the 2014 referendum.<\/p>\n
Reform are populists and opportunists, no different to the SNP.<\/p>\n
Pretending to be all things to all people.<\/p>\n
Shifting position like the weather.<\/p>\n
Saying whatever is convenient, depending on who\u2019s listening at the time.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s their answer to the SNP\u2019s bloated benefits bill?<\/p>\n
They don\u2019t want to cut it.<\/p>\n
They will pretend \u2013 like all the other parties \u2013 that it can keep getting bigger and bigger.<\/p>\n
My goodness, Reform even supports the nationalisation of some industries.<\/p>\n
Does that sound conservative to you?<\/p>\n
Reform are a one-man band with no real values, vision or policies.<\/p>\n
They promise easy fixes to complex problems \u2013 soundbites instead of solutions.<\/p>\n
In it for themselves, not for their country.<\/p>\n
What Holyrood needs is the only party with a track record of taking the fight to the SNP.<\/p>\n
A sensible and serious party with common sense policies.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s us. The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party<\/p>\n
In Scotland, Labour have never lost their sense of entitlement.<\/p>\n
Cheered on by the commentator class, a misguided arrogance that they deserve to rule by default.<\/p>\n
Labour often back the SNP at Holyrood.<\/p>\n
Anas Sarwar keeps falling into line behind John Swinney.<\/p>\n
On gender.<\/p>\n
On hate crime.<\/p>\n
On sky-high taxes.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because Labour\u2019s politics are almost identical to the SNP\u2019s.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re part of Holyrood\u2019s left-wing blob that blocks progress.<\/p>\n
Can you imagine a Labour government getting a grip on the SNP\u2019s benefits bill?<\/p>\n
No. They can\u2019t and they won\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Trade unions snap their fingers to get inflation-busting pay deals from the SNP.<\/p>\n
Can you imagine Labour being any different?<\/p>\n
Can you imagine them taking bold action to fix Scotland\u2019s problems?<\/p>\n
Labour used to talk about change.<\/p>\n
But just look at the change they\u2019ve delivered in the form of Keir Starmer\u2019s disastrous government.<\/p>\n
15 major U-turns and counting.<\/p>\n
Even Sarwar knows Starmer is a dud. Anas, what took you so long to realise?<\/p>\n
Labour cannot and will not deliver the change we need in Scotland.<\/p>\n
They don\u2019t have the people.<\/p>\n
They don\u2019t have the answers.<\/p>\n
They don\u2019t have the strength.<\/p>\n
Conference, one of the worst days of my brief political career was when a taxi driver mistook me for Alex Cole-Hamilton.<\/p>\n
A deeply troubling moment.<\/p>\n
The Lib Dems like to present a cuddly and wholesome public image.<\/p>\n
But don\u2019t be fooled.<\/p>\n
In recent weeks, they\u2019ve backed the SNP\u2019s high tax budget.<\/p>\n
They did exactly the same thing last year.<\/p>\n
They do so because it\u2019s patently obvious that they\u2019re desperate to get into government with John Swinney.<\/p>\n
Alex Cole-Hamilton\u2019s love-bombing of John Swinney is the worst kept secret in Scottish politics.<\/p>\n
Whatever the Lib Dem leader says, you can\u2019t trust a word he says.<\/p>\n
If John Swinney spurns Mr Cole-Hamilton, there\u2019s always the ghoulish Greens.<\/p>\n
Holyrood\u2019s presiding officer once told me off for describing them as \u2018dangerous fanatics\u2019.<\/p>\n
So I called them \u2018dangerous cranks\u2019 instead.<\/p>\n
She still wasn\u2019t happy.<\/p>\n
Wine bar revolutionaries, poisoned by the politics of envy.<\/p>\n
A party that would scare off entrepreneurs who create jobs.<\/p>\n
But welcome every single illegal immigrant.<\/p>\n
That wants to legalise heroin and cocaine.<\/p>\n
And would drag Scotland out of the UK and out of NATO.<\/p>\n
Fanatics, cranks and extremists.<\/p>\n
Dangerous and unfit to govern.<\/p>\n
Yet John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon welcomed them into their government.<\/p>\n
It was called the Bute House Agreement and it was a disaster.<\/p>\n
Ending it was the only useful thing that Humza Yousaf has ever done.<\/p>\n
But \u2013 terrifyingly \u2013 they want to do it all over again.<\/p>\n
If you thought the \u2018Bute House Agreement\u2019 was a horror movie, just wait until \u2018Bute House 2: The Nightmare Returns\u2019.<\/p>\n
Because it would be a nightmare for workers, for women, for families, for drivers, for businesses, for the oil and gas industry \u2026 for Scotland.<\/p>\n
When I addressed you here last year, I set out our common-sense blueprint.<\/p>\n
I talked about securing better value for hard-pressed taxpayers.<\/p>\n
Ending wasteful spending and cutting red tape.<\/p>\n
Shutting quangos that only deliver pro SNP lines.<\/p>\n
Fixing public appointment rules to end SNP cronyism.<\/p>\n
I talked about reducing the core civil service to levels that were quite adequate a decade ago.<\/p>\n
I set out how reducing benefits would give tax cuts for families.<\/p>\n
These cuts would also support businesses to grow, to create jobs and boost the economy.<\/p>\n
We need to reduce the benefits bill.<\/p>\n
That obvious truth should not be a controversial thing to say.<\/p>\n
But we are the only party saying it.<\/p>\n
Of course we value social security for those in genuine need.<\/p>\n
But Scotland simply cannot afford to spend \u00a310 billion pounds a year on benefits.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s where the SNP is heading.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s over \u00a327 million pounds of taxpayers\u2019 cash going out the door.<\/p>\n
Every single day.<\/p>\n
In my speech last year, I talked about scrapping the SNP\u2019s foolish fixation of Net Zero by 2045.<\/p>\n
They would make us all poorer by chasing a target that we know is not affordable.<\/p>\n
Last year, I told how we proudly support our oil and gas industry.<\/p>\n
We still do, while the SNP and Labour betray these workers.<\/p>\n
We also back clean and green new nuclear power.<\/p>\n
And we support those fighting against mass industrialisation in their beautiful corners of Scotland.<\/p>\n
The mega pylons, solar farms and vast battery storage plants.<\/p>\n
Last year I also talked about shorter waits for GP appointments and hospital treatment.<\/p>\n
I talked about education and the urgent need to reverse the decline in our schools.\u00a0 And to restore order and safety in classrooms.<\/p>\n
However, since last year, all of these problems have not improved.<\/p>\n
They have in fact only got worse under the SNP and Labour.<\/p>\n
But we refuse to sit idly by.<\/p>\n
We have been working hard to turn the vision I set out then into a common-sense range of policies now.<\/p>\n
Not sniping, but solutions.<\/p>\n
With the Scottish parliament election in 75 days\u2019 time, I will guarantee you this:<\/p>\n
The Scottish Conservative manifesto will be the only one to honestly address the problems that our country faces.<\/p>\n
The only one that will tackle them head on with smart, credible and affordable policies.<\/p>\n
Let me share some of these ideas today.<\/p>\n
We have already announced some fantastic ideas in recent weeks and at conference.<\/p>\n
The magnificent Miles Briggs published our plan to fix Scottish education.<\/p>\n
We would scrap the SNP\u2019s failing Curriculum for Excellence and replace it with a knowledge-based Curriculum for Aspiration.<\/p>\n
We would restore order and ban phones in the classroom, so that pupils can learn in safety.<\/p>\n
The superb Sue Webber has set out how we\u2019d fix Scotland\u2019s roads.<\/p>\n
This includes the most ambitious plan since devolution to upgrade Scotland\u2019s trunk roads and create a new national pothole fund.<\/p>\n
The marvellous Meghan Gallacher unveiled our plan to solve the SNP\u2019s housing crisis.<\/p>\n
We would rip up red tape for housebuilders and scrap the unfair tax on buying a home.<\/p>\n
The awesome Alexander Stewart set out how we\u2019d tackle the SNP\u2019s bloated benefits bill.<\/p>\n
Our plan would save taxpayers over \u00a31 billion.<\/p>\n
And we would use that money to cut your taxes and lower bills.<\/p>\n
Because the SNP have made Scotland the highest taxed part of the UK.<\/p>\n
Their income tax rises cost Scots \u00a31.8 billion more each year.<\/p>\n
Middle-income Scots are forced to pay \u00a31,500 a year more than colleagues elsewhere in the UK.<\/p>\n
This money is taken from people\u2019s wages when they\u2019re already struggling to make ends meet.<\/p>\n
We want to put that right.<\/p>\n
We would ensure that more people are taken out of paying income tax altogether.<\/p>\n
And we would cut income tax to 19 pence in the pound for lower and middle income earners.<\/p>\n
Our tax cuts would help lower people\u2019s bills by allowing everyone to keep more of their hard-earned money.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll often hear me talking about taxpayers\u2019 money.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because I know, as you do, that money spent by government comes from taxpayers.<\/p>\n
The other parties think that it appears by magic.<\/p>\n
And that is why I am very excited to share with you today our new policy that would return taxes to hard-pressed taxpayers.<\/p>\n
You will know that the Scottish Government is legally obliged to balance its budget each year.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, they are not allowed to overspend.<\/p>\n
This means that the Scottish government has surplus money every single year.<\/p>\n
And what happens with that big pot of unspent cash?<\/p>\n
Well, it goes into the following year\u2019s budget, where John Swinney gets to spend it on his priorities \u2026<\/p>\n
Such as yet more pro-independence propaganda.<\/p>\n
We believe that should change.<\/p>\n
Today, I can announce that we would turn the Scottish government\u2019s annual underspend into a taxpayer dividend.<\/p>\n
A rebate for every hard-working taxpayer.<\/p>\n
A Conservative cashback to help people with their bills.<\/p>\n
Based on last year\u2019s underspend, this surplus would provide every household in Scotland with an estimated \u00a3200 dividend.<\/p>\n
This is taxpayers\u2019 money. It is your money.<\/p>\n
It does not belong to John Swinney.<\/p>\n
I say it with pride and conviction:<\/p>\n
We want to cut tax while the SNP are always trying to find new ways to snatch your cash.<\/p>\n
So, all other parties stand for higher benefits spending paid for with higher taxes.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what all of the independent financial experts are saying.<\/p>\n
We will always tell the truth.<\/p>\n
The Scottish Conservatives stand for reducing the benefits bill to cut your taxes.<\/p>\n
And we will return unspent taxes to taxpayers.<\/p>\n
We have strong and sensible policies solidly rooted in our shared Conservative values.<\/p>\n
Ambitious policies to give people hope.<\/p>\n
Because hope is in short supply in Scotland right now.<\/p>\n
And we all know why:<\/p>\n
\u2022 The SNP are serially incompetent and dishonest.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Reform is NOT a unionist party. Standing for nothing but themselves.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Labour are weak and share the SNP\u2019s damaging politics.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The Lib Dems actively support the SNP.<\/p>\n
\u2022 And the Greens are deranged.<\/p>\n
Conference, we are the only party in Scotland who have the right values, the right ideas and the right people.<\/p>\n
What are we in it for?<\/p>\n
What am I in it for?<\/p>\n
We are in it to make a difference.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m in it because I care about our communities and our country.<\/p>\n
We want a Scotland based on our values:<\/p>\n
Fairness, freedom, opportunity.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what motivates me.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not a career politician like John Swinney or Anas Sarwar.<\/p>\n
Like most of you, I worked in the real world.<\/p>\n
As a journalist, I stood up to organised crime.<\/p>\n
And I stood up for ordinary, decent people.<\/p>\n
I exposed wrongdoing and gave voice to the powerless.<\/p>\n
I still do.<\/p>\n
I see Holyrood as a means to an end, not as a comfortable career.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m frustrated by how out of touch it is.<\/p>\n
Scottish Conservatives stand up for Scotland.<\/p>\n
We stand up to the SNP and their little helpers of every colour.<\/p>\n
It is a job that we take seriously because it is a job that no-one else is willing to do.<\/p>\n
No-one else is standing up for the values that we believe in.<\/p>\n
No-one else has common-sense policies that many Scots agree with, whether they\u2019ve voted for us or not.<\/p>\n
Holyrood needs a strong Scottish Conservative voice like never before.<\/p>\n
Without one, the parliament will keep turning its back on swathes of the country it\u2019s supposed to serve.<\/p>\n
So we are going to fight.<\/p>\n
I am going to fight with everything that I have.<\/p>\n
Our dynamic Scottish Conservative MSPs, MPs and councillors are committed, industrious, and connected to their communities.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re on the side of ordinary, hard-working Scots.<\/p>\n
And in this election, we are going to get out there and show people that someone\u2019s got their back.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve got their back.<\/p>\n
We are going to fight for the people who do the right thing.<\/p>\n
Getting up and going to work.<\/p>\n
Doing the very best for their families.<\/p>\n
But who feel they\u2019re getting nowhere.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of thousands of Scots see that the system isn\u2019t working.<\/p>\n
People who want a return to basic common sense.<\/p>\n
We are going to give people a voice right across Scotland.<\/p>\n
On May the 7th, the second of your two votes \u2013 the peach ballot paper \u2013 is your secret weapon.<\/p>\n
It is the smart way to stop the SNP across the country.<\/p>\n
To stop John Swinney from winning a majority he says will lead to a referendum.<\/p>\n
To stop the SNP-Green horror show of Bute House 2.<\/p>\n
To stop the phoney Unionists of Reform helping the SNP get back in.<\/p>\n
The election is 75 days away.<\/p>\n
The real work starts now.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve turned our values and vision into a plan for a better Scotland.<\/p>\n
A victory for John Swinney would extend SNP rule at Holyrood to nearly a quarter of a century.<\/p>\n
It would mean five more years of the same failed approach:<\/p>\n
Five more years of secrecy and evasion, dishonesty and deceit.<\/p>\n
Relentless demands for an independence referendum.<\/p>\n
Trapping us on the same downward spiral.<\/p>\n
Higher taxes, higher benefits, low growth, declining public services.<\/p>\n
Paying more, getting less.<\/p>\n
Hitched to the Greens, nothing will be considered too extreme.<\/p>\n
Neither Labour nor the Lib Dems will oppose them.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re just too weak.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve failed before and they\u2019ll keep failing.<\/p>\n
They are part of the problem.<\/p>\n
So that leaves us.<\/p>\n
The Scottish Conservatives are the voice of common sense.<\/p>\n
We are the voice for ordinary, decent, hard-working Scots who dread five more years of the same.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why I make this promise to you here today.<\/p>\n
We are going to give the next 75 days everything we\u2019ve got.<\/p>\n
We are going to fight for every vote.<\/p>\n
We are going to stop the SNP.<\/p>\n
And we have the common-sense plans to get Scotland back on track.<\/p>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Watch as Russell Findlay sets\u00a0our common-sense plan to stop the SNP, defeat their push for another independence referendum…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-438468","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}