Today, Russell Findlay set out why the cost of living should and will define this year’s Scottish Parliament election.
Families across Scotland are under real pressure from rising bills and higher everyday costs. After years of SNP tax rises and wasteful spending, people are paying more while struggling to get by. Labour and Reform back the same approach, with higher welfare spending and higher taxes that put even more pressure on working families.
In his speech, Russell Findlay explains why Scotland needs a different, common-sense approach. One that focuses on bringing bills down, making work pay, and putting affordability first.
Watch the full speech below 👇
Read the full speech below 👇
Happy new year and thank you all for coming.
At the start of a new year, we take time to reflect.
We think about how to do better … and resolve to change.
But John Swinney has already shown that he’s incapable of change.
It’s 2026 and, yes, he spent this morning going on about another independence referendum.
I say this – anyone who thinks that the SNP threat to break up our country is somehow diminished is deluding themselves.
They need to wake up. The threat has not gone away.
Then there was Anas Sarwar’s speech.
Which can be summarised as: ‘We’ve got nothing to do with Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves’.
Aye, very good Mr Sarwar.
You can’t run from the record of the disastrous Labour government.
So, New Year is time for change.
And if there’s one group of people who should put effort into New Year’s resolutions, it’s those MSPs who have their heads in the sand.
2026 needs to be the year that Scotland’s politicians grasp the challenges facing Scotland’s people.
So many people have good jobs – working hard and earning a decent wage.
But the cost of living is hitting hard.
Everything seems so expensive. Household bills keep rising.
People who do the right thing struggle to get ahead.
Or even stand still.
At the same time, Scotland’s public services get worse, not better.
And don’t you shudder when left-wing politicians, Labour or SNP, say they are ‘asking’ people to pay more tax?
As if taxpayers have any choice in the matter.
As if they could say, ‘eh, no thanks, I’ll skip this tax rise if it’s all the same to you’.
Don’t patronise people who are being forced, not asked, to pay more – with nothing to show for it in return.
Of course, the SNP and Labour pretend that there’s no alternative than to keep raising taxes.
That it is somehow inevitable.
Their approach is the equivalent of taxation thumbscrews, crushing ambition and aspiration.
I believe that the cost-of-living will and should define this year’s Scottish Parliament election.
It’s the number one concern for every family, every household, every worker, every business, every community … the whole country.
2026 will be the cost-of-living election.
The public will have the chance to choose between five more miserable years of SNP tax rises and wasteful spending.
Or a new era of hope, with a common-sense focus on bringing down bills through economic growth.
That’s the choice facing Scotland’s people.
Put simply – do you want to keep paying more under the SNP or do you want to make your life more affordable?
My position is simple.
My party stands for ambition. We want a more affordable future.
The Scottish Conservatives will fight to bring down bills.
We have the people and we have the plan to do so.
We’ll stand up to the SNP and stand up for Scotland’s taxpayers.
We will champion the virtue of lower taxes.
Not just for individuals, but for families, communities and the country’s public services.
Lower taxes would benefit us all.
They would attract more investment, build business confidence, and help Scotland’s economy to thrive.
We want to incentivise work – to make it pay.
Did you see the report last week which found that more than one in 10 recipients of the Scottish Child Payment chose to work less or to stop working altogether?
That’s because they’d lose more in benefits than they would earn by working more.
What kind of benefits system incentivises idleness? … Well, the SNP benefits system does just that.
Scotland already spends £1.3 billion more on benefits than it receives through the block grant.
£1.3 billion – each year.
And the SNP’s total welfare bill is set to hit nearly £10 billion by the end of the decade.
That’s why it’s so incredible that all parties (SNP, Labour and Reform) want to spend even more on benefits.
This is crazy, irresponsible and wrong.
It is not fair. And it is not sustainable.
Mark my words – Scotland cannot afford to continue to park more people on Benefits Street.
When we talk about economic growth it can sound like an abstract concept.
So what does increased growth mean in real terms?
Well it means greater tax yields – which means there is more money to improve public services.
More money to bring down NHS waiting lists … to deliver faster GP appointments … to raise school standards.
More money for more police officers … and for roads that are not cratered with potholes.
It means that we can begin the hard job of fixing the harm caused by the SNP over the past two decades.
Bringing down bills would empower people.
It would increase opportunities for hard workers to get ahead.
It would support entrepreneurs and those with aspiration.
It would create more jobs for skilled workers.
All of that is possible, but only if Scotland’s politicians focus on lowering taxes and improving wasteful public services.
Making the cost of living more affordable must be our top priority in 2026.
That’s what my party will stand for in next week’s Scottish Budget – bringing down bills.
We’re putting forward sensible, realistic plans to cut taxes for working people and small businesses.
Our proposals, set out in a letter that I have sent to the First Minister today, are credible and costed.
They would reward work, enterprise and innovation.
Make it easier to start and grow your business.
Make it easier to buy your own home.
Make it easier to afford a new car, childcare, a family holiday.
But the question is, where does the SNP stand on this critical issue?
Are they going to make the cost of living more affordable?
Or are they going to make things even worse?
At the start of this new year, John Swinney has that choice to make.
His track record gives cause for serious concern.
Because John Swinney has been a central member of this tax-raising SNP government for almost the full 19 years they’ve been in power.
He stood by Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf when they increased people’s bills.
He constantly calls on the UK government to hike taxes.
Here’s a hard fact that John Swinney does not like: most Scottish workers pay more income tax than they would if they worked elsewhere in the UK.
John Swinney thinks that both governments can continue to squeeze Scotland’s taxpayers. I’ve seen more forgiving Boa Constrictors.
He will try to hide from this truth with his usual flannel and distraction.
However, his record is clear for all to see.
He might even try to dupe the public by suggesting that the impending budget will be about bringing down costs.
But I ask – will he actually take the necessary action to make life more affordable?
Will he reduce bills for middle earners who pay £1,500 a year more than they would if they worked in the rest of the UK?
Will he help businesses by giving them the rates relief they have long needed and deserved?
Will he abolish Scotland’s stamp duty so young people can buy their first home and older people can afford to move?
And is he really going to go into a cost-of-living election on the back of a tax-raising budget?
The people of Scotland are not interested in more weasel words from John Swinney.
They’re wise to the SNP’s ways.
Next week’s budget must bring down tax bills. Not maintain them as the highest in the UK.
It should lower taxes in a meaningful way. Once again, people should be given control over their own finances.
To be free to spend more of their hard-earned money how they choose.
That’s good for households and good for the economy.
In Rachel Reeves’ disastrous autumn budget, she raised taxes in order to increase spending on benefits.
But she was simply following in the footsteps of the SNP.
These two governments have been raising your bills by stealth, by freezing the point at which you pay higher tax rates.
This means that when your salary increases through inflation, the SNP and Labour will take more from you in tax.
Call it what you want. Fiscal drag, a stealth tax, a hidden pay cut …
It all means the same thing, which is more money coming off your wages, so less money going into your bank account.
That is not fair. Scots are sick of paying higher tax rates in order to fund an ever-growing benefits bill.
By the end of the next Scottish Parliament, if the SNP and Labour continue to freeze income tax rates as planned, it will cost the average full-time worker £1,800 per year.
The Scottish Conservatives would put an end to this.
We would reverse the SNP and Labour stealth taxes.
We would do this by raising the point at which you start paying income tax in Scotland in line with forecast inflation next year.
Furthermore, we would reduce taxes for people currently paying the 42 per cent Higher Rate of tax in Scotland.
We would achieve this by increasing the Higher Rate threshold again in line with inflation.
Today, I’m also recommitting to our previous proposal to reduce income tax to 19 per cent for lower- and middle-income households.
If our plans were enacted in the Scottish Budget next week, they would save taxpayers up to £718 a year.
But we want to go even further than that.
We will commit to raising the point at which you start paying income tax in Scotland in line with inflation.
We would do this for every year of the next Scottish Parliament.
And for middle-income earners, we will do the same – raise the bands in line with inflation.
Over the lifetime of the next parliament, we will finally close the egregious tax gap that costs many Scottish workers £1,500 more in tax.
I believe that money belongs in the pockets of those who earned it.
John Swinney could implement these proposals if only he had the bravery to cut Scotland’s soon-to-be £10billion benefits bill.
But he won’t – and all the other parties at Holyrood agree with him.
My party will set out clear plans for how we would reduce spending on social security in the near future.
That’s what we will seek, for the good of Scotland’s taxpayers, the economy and public services.
But hard-working families and businesses need more than tax cuts alone.
They need a major change in how Scotland’s economy is managed and governed.
At the start of a new year, my message to every MSP across all parties is this:
We must unite behind the shared purpose of unleashing Scotland’s potential.
I’ve spent the past year listening to businesses – small, medium and large – across Scotland.
My party has been working hard on shaping the ideas to grow Scotland’s economy.
That work continues.
We have already published a detailed set of proposals to put the economy first during this year’s Holyrood election campaign.
The first part of our plan is to ensure that economic growth is the number one objective across all areas of government.
So let’s remove Scotland from the ‘Wellbeing Economy Alliance’, which Nicola Sturgeon signed up to and hasn’t made anyone in Scotland better off.
Apparently, the Wellbeing Economy puts “human and planetary needs at the centre of its activity” above good old fashioned economic growth.
Let’s jettison this abstract claptrap and focus on wealth-building for hard-working families.
Second, let’s fundamentally overhaul business rates to make them fairer.
This outdated system holds back businesses, especially in high streets and small towns.
In recent weeks, draft bills for eye-watering rates increases have been landing on doormats.
That’s why my party has launched a campaign titled Stop the SNP’s Business Tax Hikes.
So for the sake of Scottish business and jobs, please support it.
The SNP government must commit to changing the business rates system – and promising that rates will be lower in future, not higher.
Third, abolish Scotland’s version of stamp duty – LBTT – on personal homes.
This would give young people the hope of owning their own property.
And older people could afford to downsize if they want, freeing up larger homes for families.
Fourth, the Scottish government must use Scotland’s energy resources to drive growth.
Labour and the SNP are turning off the taps in the North Sea.
This is costing 1,000 jobs every month.
One oil industry leader, in a state of despair, described to me the ‘quiet annihilation’ of our oil and gas sector … caused by the policies of the SNP and Labour.
Yet UK households pay the fourth-highest energy bills in the developed world …
While businesses pay the highest – killing their ability to compete with foreign rivals.
The Nationalists and Labour must abandon their ideological opposition to drilling for the oil and gas we will all need for decades to come.
Instead, they should back new fields like Cambo, Rosebank and Jackdaw.
Fifth, we would introduce tax relief for businesses in Scotland’s left-behind communities.
This would make them competitive, allowing them to attract new jobs and investment.
Sixth, streamline the public sector’s investment landscape which is inefficient and wasteful.
We would merge Scotland’s existing national business and skills quangos into one agency, Growth Scotland.
This would be more effective – and easier for businesses to understand and navigate.
Lastly, introduce a Reduction of Red Tape Bill.
Cutting regulation spurs innovation.
Businesses would spend less time and money buried under bureaucracy and paperwork.
We are actively working with business leaders about how to make this happen.
Our common-sense plans show that the Scottish Conservatives have the practical ideas to build a stronger economy.
And in next week’s budget, the SNP must deliver a plan for growth.
If the SNP choose not to follow our lead, then Scotland’s economy will continue to be stuck in the slow lane.
Not because of a lack of talent. Or a lack of ideas.
But because the SNP’s left-wing approach does not back those willing to take risks and to get ahead.
And the consequence of that is a perpetual state of stagnation – lost opportunities and wasted potential.
You can measure the jobs lost when people or businesses leave Scotland for better opportunities elsewhere.
But lost opportunities are so much harder to quantify:
New business start-ups that simply don’t happen.
New jobs that aren’t created.
Investments that are scrapped or taken elsewhere.
That impact of lost economic growth is not some academic concept.
It is real and it is harmful.
Ultimately, it results in the difference between declining public services or improving them.
It’s the difference between higher or lower bills.
The difference between our country remaining stuck in a rut or moving forward with confidence.
In SNP-run Scotland, it’s far too hard to get ahead, to start or build a business.
The government must stop creating obstacles and instead clear the way for those who want to get on.
Despite the SNP holding back Scotland, we have what it takes to succeed.
We just need the right economic focus from politicians.
So in the 2026 budget, John Swinney must change his approach.
The Scottish Budget must make life more affordable by bringing down bills.
That’s the common sense approach my party wants to deliver.
We’re focused on making life more affordable for you and your family.
Helping you to keep more of your own hard-earned money.
Giving you more control over your own finances.
Bringing down bills for workers and businesses.
That’s why I’m asking people to back the Scottish Conservatives this year.
To build a stronger Scotland – a Scotland of opportunity and prosperity for everyone.
Thank you.
