The Scottish Conservative leader has told his UK party conference that the SNP is turning Scotland into a “laboratory for weird and wacky policies”.
Russell Findlay criticised what he saw as a series of “woke policy proposals” from the Scottish Government – including rent controls and a four day working week.
Findlay also told delegates in Manchester that the word “freedom” summed up his approach to next year’s Holyrood election.
He said the Scottish people wanted freedom to keep more of their “hard-earned money” and businesses wanted freedom from “a of barrage rules and regulations”.
Findlay said he was harking back to Mel Gibson’s battle-cry from the film Braveheart.
He took a swipe at Scotland’s first minister, saying John Swinney only offered more “division and decay”.
Findlay said: “He’s been obsessed with breaking up the UK from the age of 15. He probably reckons that Braveheart is a documentary.
“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.”
Findlay criticised the SNP as the party of independence which he said had “trashed” so many freedoms.
Findlay has been at the helm of the Scottish Tories since September 2024 after being elected to replace Douglas Ross who stood down from the role.
He said that he and Kemi Bandenoch, who became UK leader two months later, were “fighting for the future of our great country”.
“We are up for this scrap,” he said.
“Because left in the hands of Labour and the SNP, the United Kingdom’s future would be bleak.”
In his speech he also claimed the Scottish Government was willing to embrace “every madcap idea known to man and woman”.
He added : “Under the SNP, Scotland has become a laboratory for weird and wacky policies.
“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.”
Earlier at the conference, Findlay called for a “major reset” in Scotland’s economic approach, which he said would show that the country is “open for business”.
He pledged that the Scottish Conservatives would focus on the economy in the lead-up to the Holyrood elections in 2026.
