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The Scottish Conservative leader has told his UK party conference that the SNP is turning Scotland into a “laboratory for weird and wacky policies”.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Findlay also told delegates in Manchester that the word “freedom” summed up his approach to next year’s Holyrood election.<\/p>\n
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”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Findlay said he was harking back to Mel Gibson’s battle-cry from the film Braveheart.<\/p>\n
He took a swipe at Scotland’s first minister, saying John Swinney only offered more “division and decay”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Findlay said: “He’s been obsessed with breaking up the UK from the age of 15. He probably reckons that Braveheart is a documentary.<\/p>\n
“Conference, please indulge me, I will reference Mel Gibson’s famous Braveheart battle cry of ‘Freedom’.<\/p>\n
“Because that word actually sums up what next year’s vital Scottish Parliament election is really all about.<\/p>\n
“The people of Scotland don’t want independence, but they do want greater freedom.”<\/p>\n
Findlay criticised the SNP as the party of independence which he said had “trashed” so many freedoms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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.<\/p>\n
He said that he and Kemi Bandenoch, who became UK leader two months later, were “fighting for the future of our great country”.<\/p>\n
“We are up for this scrap,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Because left in the hands of Labour and the SNP, the United Kingdom’s future would be bleak.”<\/p>\n
In his speech he also claimed the Scottish Government was willing to embrace “every madcap idea known to man and woman”.<\/p>\n
He added : “Under the SNP, Scotland has become a laboratory for weird and wacky policies.<\/p>\n
“No policy can be too harmful, half-baked or unhinged. From rent controls, to a universal basic income, to a four-day working week.<\/p>\n
“If it’s woke, they want it.”<\/p>\n
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”.<\/p>\n
He pledged that the Scottish Conservatives would focus on the economy in the lead-up to the Holyrood elections in 2026.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n