At Conservative Party Conference 2025, Russell Findlay outlined our plans for a major economic reset.
Watch his speech on the Main Stage 👇
Watch his speech at the Scottish fringe 👇
You can also read both speeches below:
Russell Findlay’s Main Stage speech
Conference, how fantastic it is to be here with you again.
Almost exactly one year ago, I was elected leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.
A few weeks after that, the outstanding Kemi Badenoch was elected our UK leader.
We both knew that we had a tough fight on our hands.
We knew then – just as we know now – that we are fighting for the future of our great country.
And let me tell you – we are up for this scrap.
Because 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.
I want our young people to have hope for the future.
Our party and our country believe in the power of aspiration.
We stand for something that no other party truly does – advancing opportunity for those willing to work hard.
Reaping the rewards for hard graft.
We stand for the strivers.
We stand for those who create jobs and wealth.
And conference, that is why we are in this fight.
That’s why the Conservative and Unionist Party must – and will – emerge stronger.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Russell Findlay’s Scottish fringe speech
Friends, it’s great to be here with you at conference.
It was just last year that I arrived at conference as the fresh new face of the Scottish Conservatives … at the age of 51.
Well, 12 long and challenging months later, and this face – as you can see – is not quite as fresh.
I know. The bathroom mirror does not lie.
And I reckon it will undergo some more rapid ageing.
Because these are difficult times.
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.
Now, we are rediscovering our sense of purpose.
We’re reconnecting with the principles and values that we hold so dear.
That might sound like we’re being nostalgic, looking to the past.
Not so.
Yes, we respect tradition.
But we also acknowledge when things need to be put right.
Common to all Conservatives is the desire to do better.
To work hard to improve our lot, achieve our potential, make more of ourselves.
Not for selfish reasons, but for family, for community and for country.
That’s what makes us Conservatives.
We know that the present, however tough, is not permanent.
We are looking to the future – guided by our party’s proud history.
We are determined to do things differently.
We are a new Conservative Party.
Let me share with you where I believe the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party must stand now and in the future.
Over the past year, we’ve engaged with those who lost trust in our party.
Since being elected, I’ve travelled to all points of Scotland to hear directly from real people.
In the north, I’ve met workers in oil and gas and renewables.
In the south, I’ve met farmers and hospitality workers.
In the west, I’ve met apprentices and shop workers.
And in the east, I’ve met nurses and tech entrepreneurs.
I’m speaking with every type of family.
I’m speaking with volunteers, workers, the self-employed, pensioners, business owners – small, medium and large.
And the most common thing I hear is this:
Everything has become too expensive.
Not just the punishing rates of income tax – but everyday living costs.
Folk feel crushed under the weight of constantly rising prices.
They are frustrated at declining local services.
They despair at the lack of opportunity for young people.
There is one primary cause of Scotland’s national sense of malaise.
And I believe it represents the SNP’s biggest failure in government.
Now, conference, I know what you’re thinking – that’s a tough competition.
But for me, the SNP’s biggest failure is NOT schools, even though they’ve trashed our education system.
It’s NOT healthcare, even though 1 in 6 Scots is waiting on an NHS waiting list.
It’s NOT drug deaths, even though they’re the worst in Europe for 7 straight years.
And it’s NOT even their anti-women gender law, although Nicola Sturgeon’s beliefs are unhinged.
I believe the SNP’s biggest failure is the economy.
Specifically, their lack of focus on growth.
Scotland’s economic growth has lagged behind the rest of the UK’s since the SNP took power.
This has cost our economy nearly £12 billion.
That lost growth plagues every person in Scotland; strains every public service; blights every aspect of the country.
It’s why so many Scots are far worse off now than when the nationalists came to power in 2007.
I don’t just mean financially.
I mean worse off in the quality of their lives.
It’s hard to put that feeling into words, but we all know it.
It’s that impression we get travelling to work, going about our business and looking around streets that were once thriving.
I see it in my home city of Glasgow.
Scotland has been stuck for more than a decade.
And that is because we have an SNP government of grievance.
A government fixated on constitutional destruction and not on governance.
We have a government that treats businesses as an afterthought.
A government that forces Scots to pay higher taxes than workers elsewhere in the UK.
A government that forces businesses to comply with woke rules.
A government that always favours the state sector – which spends money…
Over private enterprise – which makes money.
All of this results in lost growth.
And it has consequences for everyday working people.
It costs jobs, it costs investment, it costs revenue for public services.
It costs everyone the right to build a better life.
And conference, we know that John Swinney will blame someone else.
That’s the nationalist way.
Say a big boy did it and ran away.
John Swinney talks a good game on the economy, but he is no financial magician – other than making people’s wages disappear.
And he’s been central to Scotland’s lost era of growth and opportunity.
He is no innocent bystander.
John Swinney was Nicola Sturgeon’s slavishly loyal Mr Fixit.
He’s been in the SNP cabinet for 17 of 18 years.
He’s been there for 810 new government strategies and countless talking shops.
The tax rises that he imposed are already hitting people’s payslips.
By the end of the next Parliament – if Swinney manages to win another term – a family taking home £50,000 will have lost out on £7,638 due to SNP tax rises.
Here’s another devastating fact:
Since income tax was devolved nine years ago, SNP tax increases have cost Scottish taxpayers a total of £7.8 billion.
So, John Swinney is the problem, not the solution.
He is the block on change, not the man to make it happen.
There’s that word: ‘change’.
Labour can barely bring themselves to say the word ‘change’ anymore.
It won them an election.
But their failure to deliver change has lost them the country.
Their National Insurance hike wasn’t just a broken promise, it broke our economy.
It has cost jobs and investment.
It has destroyed any chance of growing the economy.
It has left people feeling that change is impossible.
And this has caused some to consider Reform UK.
But they have even less regard for sound money than the Labour party.
They don’t believe in fiscal responsibility, as we do.
They are not conservatives.
They support increasing benefits, nationalising oil and gas, and leaving a dangerous debt burden to future generations.
No wonder so many Reform candidates support Scottish independence – because they’re economic vandals.
Our party is the only one that offers the sensible and realistic change that our country needs.
Driving up economic growth is key to fixing everything else in Scotland.
A rising economy produces higher tax revenues that our NHS, schools and other public services rely upon.
But revitalising our economy is about more than just what government can do.
It’s about what families, workers, businesses and entire communities are able to do.
Huge numbers of people suffer a life of precarious work or reliance on the state.
Many families do fine but don’t see any way to do better, no matter how hard they toil.
Those who want to start their own business don’t feel they will be rewarded for taking that risk.
In Scotland, there are too few opportunities for the aspirational and ambitious.
So, whole communities are held back.
Workers in many sectors can’t reach their full potential.
They are deprived of the chance to learn new skills, earn more, win promotion or start out on their own.
The SNP expect everyone to stay in their lane and to forget their ambition.
The SNP want to turn Scotland into a country that rewards skivers, not strivers.
The consequence of this nationwide lack of opportunity is a mass decline in quality of life.
Living standards for most are similar to what they were when the SNP came to power in 2007.
And the amount of disposable income that households have has actually fallen in real terms.
That’s 18 years of stagnation for real people.
People don’t just feel worse off in financial terms, they feel boxed in, with no escape route.
They feel that nothing will improve their lot, no matter how hard they work or the sacrifices they make.
Tackling Scotland’s economic despair is what the Scottish Conservative party, under my leadership, is setting out to change.
Going forward, we are going to stand for economic growth above everything else.
The economy is Topic Number One. Always.
We will work hard to be Scotland’s party of economic opportunity, rising living standards and a better quality of life.
Our focus will be on unleashing entrepreneurs and backing small businesses with big ambitions.
We want business to inform government policy, not for government to dictate to business.
We’ll stand for Conservative economic values of fiscal responsibility.
Sound money.
Efficient spending.
Self-reliance.
More freedom for people to aspire.
And cutting red tape to encourage all of the above.
Our economy-first approach would allow people to keep more of their hard-earned pounds.
Because that would build economic confidence and help to create growth.
We understand that higher growth is the only responsible and sustainable way to pay for better public services.
A stronger economy can unlock faster GP appointments; raise school standards; fix the roads and everything else that’s needed in Scotland.
That’s where my party stands – and it’s where we believe everyone in the Scottish Parliament should also stand.
Because there’s a gulf between the public and politicians.
And there’s a bigger gap between politicians and business.
They think that Holyrood hinders rather than helps them.
They believe that MSPs don’t understand their challenges.
The Conservative party has always stood up for business while the SNP and Labour stand against it.
But we need to do even better.
We must be the true party of business once again.
Always on the side of the entrepreneur, the innovators, the ambitious, the aspirational, the small businesses who make our country tick.
Let me share with you, briefly, how we’re going to do that.
To ensure we remain the party of business in Scotland, I am today launching our biggest policy programme drive in a generation.
I have recruited some of my most experienced and knowledgeable MSP colleagues.
They will work alongside members of the business community.
They will produce a detailed strategy for Scotland’s economy ahead of next year’s crucial Scottish Parliament election.
This blueprint for economic growth will ensure the Scottish Conservatives will fight on an election platform of making a tangible impact on people’s lives.
We’ve already begun the fresh thinking that Scotland needs.
Last week, I published a new economic policy paper.
Our central suggestion was that the economy should be the top priority for the government – every minister and civil servant.
The economy should inform every single Scottish government decision.
That’s what we will campaign for because it’s the only way to get Scotland back on track after 18 wasted years of the SNP.
We are also seeking a fundamental shift in the relationship between government and business.
Not another tedious SNP-style ‘reset’ which achieves nothing.
But a genuine change in how Holyrood works.
Politicians must stop treating business as the enemy – a source of taxes and nothing more.
Business should have a seat at the table and shape thinking.
The private sector should no longer be seen as inferior to the state sector.
I’ll give you a couple of examples of this damaging SNP mindset.
When the SNP sought to expand free childcare, they rigged the process in favour of public nurseries.
This drove some private nurseries out of business – making the situation even worse for parents.
Then there’s HMP Kilmarnock, which was Scotland’s best run and most effective prison – and privately operated.
But the SNP nationalised it.
This has cost taxpayers tens of millions of pounds, made the officers less safe and the prison less effective.
The SNP’s anti private sector ideology must end.
We challenge their vacuous belief that the public sector is somehow more virtuous.
We Conservatives champion, appreciate and nurture the spirit of free enterprise.
We demand a seismic change in how Holyrood views budgets and tax bills.
The other parties in the Scottish Parliament regard saving taxpayers’ money as somehow morally wrong.
And they view tax hikes as virtuous and tax cuts as vulgar.
What I believe is very different:
Government should make savings in its own spending.
They should treat every pound, every penny, with respect.
Because it is not the SNP’s money, not Holyrood’s money, not the government’s money.
It is taxpayers’ money and workers deserve to keep more of what they make.
That freedom allows people to make the best choices for their families.
And I tell you what, I trust you and the people of Scotland to spend money more wisely than those useless SNP ministers up the road in Edinburgh.
Allow me to make one more point about our economy.
Some people think that this doesn’t need to be said. But it does.
We will always stand up for Scotland’s proud place in the United Kingdom.
That is the best economic decision that Scotland can take.
The UK market is our strongest source of jobs, trade and investment.
Scotland should be focused on building and leading Britain, not breaking and leaving Britain.
This needs to be said because John Swinney’s SNP are again agitating for independence.
They’ve never really stopped.
So, today I have a message for the SNP leader: Move on John.
While the SNP waste more time on taxpayer-funded independence papers, the Scottish Conservative party is focused on economic growth.
Because economic growth is essential to Scotland’s success.
We will provide common-sense solutions to improve people’s lives by firing up Scotland’s economy.
Kick-starting growth is the only way to cut NHS waiting lists, invest in education and fix public services.
Scotland’s economy needs to get back on track because, if it does not, our public services will decline even further.
People will keep paying more but get less.
The result will be lower living standards and a poorer quality of life.
Conference, we Conservatives can never put up with that.
So, a major reset in Scotland’s economic approach is what I’m calling for today.
A Scotland that is once again open for business.
That values job-creators and respects individual effort.
Where opportunities are there for those with the drive to seize them.
A country that encourages aspiration instead of taxing ambition.
Where the Scottish spirit of innovation can once again thrive.
