Good morning, Conference and thank you Kevin...great to see you here in the real North!
It’s great to be back in Edinburgh for our Party Conference.
Now, the last time I was Edinburgh, I was just down the road with Russell and Kemi.
Sipping common sense Conservative whisky cocktails in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle, as the sun set on a beautiful winter day...
You might remember the day.
It certainly reminded all of us of the importance of making sure you never leave important documents in the printer...isn’t that right Rob?
But more importantly, that was a day that demonstrated to me exactly why I campaigned for Kemi to be leader of our Party. She showed exactly why she is what this Country so desperately needs.
Strong, decisive leadership.
Only the Conservatives can deliver that. Only Kemi can deliver that.
And, unlike Labour we have a Scottish Leader in Russell Findlay that actually has confidence in our Party Leader to deliver a stronger economy and stronger country.
We are on the cusp of the most important, significant, uncertain election in the history of devolution.
One that will determine the course of Scotland’s story and the story of Great Britain.
This election really does matter.
Getting Scottish Conservatives elected really matters.
Because we are truly the only Party that has, does, and always will hold to account, the left-wing pressure group cosplaying as a government that is the SNP.
Year after year, on all the issues that matter, it was the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party that stood up the very worst of their mad-cap ideas.
The Gender Recognition Act.
The Hate Crime Bill.
The Named Person Scheme.
Another referendum on separation.
Every madcap scheme the Nats cooked up we, the Scottish Conservatives, under Russell Findlay stood up for common sense Scotland, for common sense Scots within a strong United Kingdom.
Can any other party say that they have?
Let’s look at who else there is.
Scottish Labour, Anas Sarwar?
The man who would be king.
Best mates with Peter Mandelson. Until he wasn’t.
Best mates with Keir Starmer. Until he wasn’t.
Asking people to have confidence in his judgement to be First Minister when his own MPs don’t have confidence in his judgement on the Prime Minister!
Opposing the SNP, apart from when they voted with them on every single issue of significance.
The man who now says he’ll boot men out of women's prisons, having voted to put them in there in the first place.
The man who declared he wouldn’t oppose the SNPs latest Budget...before he even knew what was in it!
Rolling over, time and time and time again. John Swinney’s puppet. Weak. Weak. Weak.
But not only weak, dangerous.
Look what Labour have done since the general election...
The callous Family Farm Tax
Ripping away the winter fuel payment from pensioners.
Hiking up taxes on businesses big and small to pay for an ever-increasing welfare bill.
Destroying our oil and gas Industry – undermining our energy security, our economy and leading to thousands of high skilled people losing their jobs.
Inept at opposition. Destructive in Government. The Labour Party cannot be allowed to gain any more seats in the Scottish Parliament.
So, so much for Anas Sarwar.
The Lib Dems? Alex Cole Hamilton. Already measuring the curtains in the Deputy First Minister’s Office...making sure there are enough mirrors in Bute House...oh he wants it so bad, doesn’t he?
Look, we know they’d prop up an SNP administration...despite all the failures. They might say they won’t...but then again, when did saying something and doing something entirely different matter to Liberal Democrats.
Ask what they stand for and you’ll get a different answer depending on where you are.
They’ll pretend to support Scotland’s oil and gas workers in the North East, but their actual party policy is to ban new licences, cancel existing ones, and backdate the Windfall Tax to 2021...at a higher rate!
Then they’ll say they will oppose destructive energy infrastructure scarring our rural landscapes but in Holyrood they vote to make it easier to be built.
And frankly they just aren’t very good, are they?
Remember last year, when Alex Cole Hamilton announced that they had supported the SNPs budget on the promise that no more taxpayer’s money would be spent on independence.
How’s that going?
So, it can’t be the Lib Dems. It can’t be Alex Cole Hamilton.
The Greens...Oh God please never again.
So, who else? Ah, oh yeah...Reform. The Lord Offord of Garvel – sorry, plain old Malcolm from Greenock.
The man who leads a party that wants to scrap the two-child cap one week and keep it the next. Who says that keeping it will pay for cheaper beer one week only to say the next that keeping it is necessary because of the state of the public finances. Give me strength.
Who wants to cut Scotland's taxes by Billions!
Who says we need to cut spending in Scotland...Great.
But he can’t tell what or where...other than he won’t touch the ballooning welfare bill. I wonder why?
This is a man who talks the talk of uniting the right...but is in a party that has, as one of its main aims, the destruction of the Conservative and Unionist Party.
Lord Offord let me tell you, the oldest and most successful political party in the world is going no where.
Lord Offord - the man who leads a party that masquerades as unionist but is happy to stand independence supporting candidates.
Who supports another referendum, on independence, in just ten short years.
Who claims that his party was welcome to “rational nationalists”. Sorry...what?
There is no such thing as a “rational nationalist”. We, the party that fought and won the referendum in 2014 and has fought every. Single. Day. Since, know that. We in this room know that.
Reform isn’t Conservative. They aren’t Unionist. They are SNP enablers.
On the 7th of May there is only one person who will thank you for voting reform in May and that is John Swinney.
Because across Scotland a vote for Reform is only going to let failing SNP MSPs sneak back into Holyrood.
Conference, right now in the United Kingdom, we have a Labour Government that is more focussed on keeping itself on life support than running the Country.
Divided and distracted and dragging this country down.
We have Reform, more interested in fuelling more psychodrama than holding them to account.
And in Scotland, we have the SNP, who have long run out of ideas, continuing to get away with running Scotland into the ground.
They like to talk a big game on freedom.
Really. They know nothing of freedom.
More control.
Over what you say, what you do, what you think…how much of your money you keep.
That’s all they know.
And they must be stopped.
Ronald Reagan had it right - “I believe the highest aspiration of man should be individual freedom and the development of the individual.”
That is the freedom we Conservatives believe in.
Freedom to grow.
Freedom to aspire.
Freedom to build a better life for your children.
That is our dream. Those are our values.
We are unique in Scottish politics. Because it is only us who actually believe this. And with bold aspirational Conservative policies, we can get Scotland working again.
Russell Findlay has been clear from day one what our Party stands for under his leadership.
It isn’t rocket science or ideological chicanery. It is simple common sense.
Because it’s common sense that hard fought women’s rights should be protected.
It is common sense to help people buy their own home by scrapping Scotland’s Stamp Duty.
It’s common sense to scrap the EPL and get Scotland drilling again.
It’s common sense to back our pubs, bars, restaurants by easing the tax burden.
Or by getting people into work, getting the welfare bill under control and cutting people’s taxes.
These are real conservative polices backed by solid conservative principles, made by proper conservatives.
They will make a difference, and they are cutting through.
You might not always agree with us, but you better be damn sure you will know what we stand for.
Optimism. Aspiration. A better future. More of your own money in your pocket, a strong United Kingdom.
And with Russell’s leadership, joined by Miles, Alexander, Jackson, Finlay, Sharon, Tim, Murdo, Meghan, Maurice, Pam, Sandesh, Jamie, Rachael, Craig, Liam, Stephen, Douglas, Roz, Edward, Oliver, Douglas, Liz, Alexander, Sue, Annie, Tess, and Brian.
That is what we fight for.
And it is by re-electing them and our fantastic candidates across the Country that that will be delivered.
Imagine, a Scottish parliament that is laser focussed on the issues it is elected to deal with – not acting like a third-rate student debating chamber... grandstanding on foreign affairs or whatever woke issue is agitating Patrick Harvie that day.
With Scottish Conservative MSPs you will get MSPs that fight to deliver that.
To refocus the priorities of Holyrood onto what really matters.
That’s why we have taken the steps to build a credible policy offering to the people of Scotland.
Policies that tackle the big challenges that we face.
Like on energy- bringing your bills down by unleashing the huge potential of new nuclear technologies, ditching net zero and giving our North Sea industry the support it needs.
All this and more will help cut costs for businesses and families across Scotland.
But it isn’t just peoples bills that are eating away at their bank accounts.
The tax burden has been squeezing Scots for years now, and families and businesses cannot take any more.
Why? Because the welfare bill is spiralling out of control.
And no other Party is willing to be honest with the Country. They are not telling the truth.
Only the Scottish Conservatives are being honest and frank with Scotland.
So, we will cut taxes because it isn't fair that Scots pay more tax than anywhere else in the UK.
We’ll cut the welfare bill by ensuring only those that need, get.
We’ll introduce a two-child cap on the Scottish Child Payment.
We’ll work with business to grow the economy in Scotland.
This Party, our Party, has taken the time to reflect, renew, think deeply and formulate robust meaningful policies.
That is what we are doing here in Scotland, and across the UK.
And people can see that, when I was with Kemi and Russell that day here in Edinburgh.
Just outside the bar you could see the bank of journalists and cameras waiting for her. But sitting in the bar were two couples, enjoying their afternoon.
One of them asked if that was definitely Kemi. Another said that Russell’s joke that day at FMQs as one of the funniest, he’d ever heard. At that stage I knew he wasn’t on his first dram.
But seriously, once confirmed that it was Kemi, they made it clear to me how impressed they were by her, and by what Russell was doing in Holyrood.
We make no apologies for not anymore being all things to all people. We aren’t. We are Conservatives. And we should never apologise for that.
But, for the first time in far too long, people now know what we are for.
They know who we are for. And we are for the hard-working aspirational Scot who is proud of his family, his community and his country and just wants to see it do better.
Who worries for his family's future. Who looks around his town or village as high streets empty and pubs close.
Who sees his country, our great country, belittled and driven down by a Labour Government in London, and an SNP Government in Edinburgh who seek to divide, not unite. Who don’t want Great Britain to succeed.
We are for the man and woman who make this country great. For those who feels surely, eventually common sense must prevail.
Only the Scottish Conservatives can fight for them. Only the Scottish Conservatives will fight for them.
Margaret Thatcher said, “Tory values are in tune with everything that is finest in the Scottish character, and with the proudest moments in Scottish history. Scottish values are Tory values — and vice versa.”
It was true then as it is now.
So let us go out and fight.
Thank you, Conference.
