Russell Findlay will say today that voting Scottish Conservative on the regional list is Scots’ “secret weapon” to remove the SNP from power in May’s election.
In his keynote speech to the Scottish Conservatives’ annual conference in Edinburgh, the leader will tell voters that casting their peach ballot for his party is the “smart way” to stop the Nationalists.
Findlay will add that only his party can be trusted to stand up to the Nationalists and for the values of swathes of voters that the SNP and the other Holyrood parties have turned their backs on.
The Scottish Conservatives have outlined a host of policies this week, including:
- Giving headteachers, rather than councils, the power to permanently exclude pupils
- Allowing schools to opt out of council control, replicating the model of Scotland’s top state school, Jordanhill
- A pledge to shut down the SNP’s drug consumption room in Glasgow
- Scrapping minimum unit pricing for alcohol
- Creating a national pothole action fund to deliver kerb-to-kerb resurfacing for Scotland’s crumbling roads
- A ban on new Low Emission Zones and a review of existing ones
- Repealing all of the SNP’s early release of prisoners legislation
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay is expected to say: “Holyrood needs a strong Scottish Conservative voice like never before.
“Without one, the parliament will keep turning its back on swathes of the country it’s supposed to serve.
“In this election, we are going to fight for the people who do the right thing, but who feel they’re getting nowhere.
“On May 7, the second of your two votes – the peach ballot paper – is your secret weapon.
“It is the smart way to stop the SNP across the country.
“To stop John Swinney from winning a majority he says will lead to a referendum. To stop the SNP-Green horror show of Bute House 2. To stop the phoney Unionists of Reform helping the SNP get back in.
“A victory for John Swinney would mean five more years of the same failed approach – of secrecy and evasion, dishonesty and deceit, relentless demands for an independence referendum.
“Trapping us on the same downward spiral of higher taxes, higher benefits, low growth, declining public services.
“Neither Labour nor the Lib Dems will oppose the SNP – they’re just too weak. They’ve failed before and they’ll keep failing.
“So that leaves us. The Scottish Conservatives are the voice of common sense.
“We are the voice for ordinary, decent, hard-working Scots who dread five more years of the same.”