SNP has turned Scotland into a 'laboratory for weird and wacky policies', says Russell Findlay

Russell Findlay said the SNP had “embraced every madcap idea known to man and woman” during his speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester.

The West Scotland MSP said there was “ no policy can be too harmful, half-baked or unhinged”.

He also took a swipe at SNP First Minister John Swinney, saying he had been “obsessed with breaking up the UK from the age of 15” and “probably reckons that Braveheart is a documentary.”

He poked fun at former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, saying her leaving Holyrood next year was “a political jailbreak.”

But he did not mention Reform UK at all, despite the Scottish Tories likely to shed votes to Nigel Farage’s party next year.

Mr Findlay told delegates in Manchester: “Then there’s the SNP.

“Scotland can lay claim to many great thinkers and pioneers.

“The country of Adam Smith, the father of capitalism. Of David Hume, the great moral philosopher. And the many Scots who helped forge the Great British Empire.

“But under the SNP, Scotland has become a laboratory for weird and wacky policies.

“For the SNP, no policy can be too harmful, half-baked or unhinged.

“From rent controls, to a universal basic income, to a four-day working week.

“If it’s woke, they want it. They embrace every madcap idea known to man and woman.

“Yes, man and woman, because we Conservatives know that there are two genders – not two dozen as the SNP believe.

“The architect of the SNP’s gender self-ID law was Nicola Sturgeon. And an arch-opponent of it was Kemi Badenoch. Our party killed it stone dead.

“And now Sturgeon is quitting the Edinburgh parliament. You could call it a political jailbreak.”

Mr Findlay went on to attack Mr Swinney.

He said: “But, friends, don’t get too carried away, because I have to warn you.

“The new SNP leader John Swinney only offers more of the same division and decay.

“He was Nicola Sturgeon’s obedient deputy.

“He’s been obsessed with breaking up the UK from the age of 15.

“He probably reckons that Braveheart is a documentary.”

He added: “Conference, please indulge me, I will reference Mel Gibson’s famous Braveheart battle cry of ‘Freedom’.

“Because that word actually sums up what next year’s vital Scottish Parliament election is really all about.

“The people of Scotland don’t want independence, but they do want greater freedom.

“That’s the freedom to keep more of their hard-earned money…

“Not pay more tax than people in the rest of Britain for doing the same job.

“Small businesses want freedom from the SNP’s relentless barrage of rules and regulations.

“Ordinary people want freedom to speak openly, not constrained by Humza Yousaf’s chilling hate crime law.

“It really is a great irony that the party of so-called independence has trashed so many of our freedoms.

“As the party of the Union, we want to give back freedom and control to the people of Scotland.

“Control over their own lives, their own decisions, their own money.

“That’s what we proudly stand for as Scottish Conservatives and Unionists.”

Mr Findlay became Scottish Conservative leader little over a year ago.

The party has not done well in the polls since he took over, and could finish fourth next year.

That is despite the Tories coming a clear second in the last Scottish Parliament election.

He attacked Prime Minister Sir Keir Stamer and Labour only fleetingly: “Left in the hands of Labour and the SNP, the United Kingdom’s future would be bleak.

“Weaker and divided. Smaller and poorer.

“Under the left-wing politics of Keir Starmer and John Swinney, the only growth would be the debt left to future generations.”

He continued: “Where we seek a stronger and fairer economy, Labour thinks very differently.

“They want everyone to pay more tax… except Angela Rayner.

“Labour have broken so many promises.

“All that’s left of their manifesto are pictures of Sir Keir Starmer in clothes that someone else paid for… next to people he’s sacked… or those who he should sack.”

Mr Findlay has lost three of his MSPs in recent months.

Jamie Greene joined the Lib Dems, Jeremy Balfour became an independent and Graham Simpson joined Reform UK.

The Tories only took six per cent of the vote in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election in June.

This left them in fourth place behind Labour, the SNP and Reform. Reform were 20 points ahead of the Tories in third.

In the same seat in 2021 the Conservatives had taken 17.5 per cent of the vote.

At the Scottish fringe, Mr Findlay admitted that “these are difficult times” for the Scottish Tories.

Mr Findlay said the party had “learned lessons since the general election”.

He said: “But that’s fine with me, because we are a party of resilience and resolve.

“We, its members, share those same values. We know that all of Britain needs a strong Conservative Party and we are going to deliver it.

“We have learned lessons since the general election. Alongside our straight-talking UK leader Kemi Badenoch, I’ve been honest about where we went wrong.

“On taxes, on immigration, on many conservative principles – we could and should have done better. We are a new Conservative Party.”

Kicking off the annual conference, Mrs Badenoch said the Conservatives are "up for the fight".

Breaking with tradition and delivering a welcome speech at the start of the conference, Mrs Badenoch acknowledged the Conservatives had "a mountain to climb" as it languished third in the polls behind Reform UK and Labour.

But setting out her party's plan to leave the European Convention on Human Rights and deport 150,000 people a year, she insisted her party could win the next election by "combining secure borders with a shared culture".