Ruth Davidson Promises No More Devolution If She Wins Scottish Tory Leadership

Ruth Davidson has promised to draw a “line in the sand” on the constitution by promising the Scottish Conservatives would oppose more powers for Holyrood if she is elected leader.







Speaking at the official launch of her campaign in Edinburgh, she said the range of powers included in the Coalition Government’s Scotland Bill should be the final word on devolution.

She also delivered a withering attack on leadership rival Murdo Fraser’s plans to start a new right-wing party to replace the Tories, saying there would be “existential crisis, no wringing of hands” under her leadership.

But the 32-year-old estimated that it would take a decade to turn around the Scottish Conservatives’ dismal election performances and make the party a political force.

Miss Davidson also brushed aside concerns about how she could lead the current Holyrood group of MSPs, the largest group of whom have backed Mr Fraser and his plan for a new party.

Sir Jamie McGrigor has become the latest MSP to back him. But the leadership contest will be decided by party members, many of whom remain fiercely loyal to the Tory brand and deeply suspicious about devolution threatening the Union.

Mr Fraser remains the bookies’ favourite to replace Annabel Goldie as leader but has not ruled out supporting the transfer of more taxation powers to Holyrood after the Scotland Bill has been enacted.

This was vigorously opposed by Miss Davidson, who said: “The Scotland Bill currently going through Westminster is the line in the sand.

“The time for arguing about the powers the people want is over. It’s time now to use the powers that we have.”

The Glasgow MSP also claimed to be the best candidate to thwart Alex Salmond’s separation plan during the forthcoming independence referendum campaign.

“I believe the United Kingdom is a force for good in the world. I will make that positive case for the Union and together we will win as we have right on our side,” Miss Davidson said.

“No halfway house, no second question, no march to fiscal autonomy. When the referendum is done and Scotland in the Union has won the day, let that be an end to it.”

The early skirmishes of the campaign have been dominated by Mr Fraser’s assertion that the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party has no future in its current form and must be replaced.

The Daily Telegraph has revealed how a jittery Mr Fraser has sent messages to hundreds of sceptical members trying to convince them this would not mean disbanding their party.

In an appeal to rank-and-file members, Miss Davidson said: “I have no interest in change for its own sake. We could spend the next 12 months discussing the internal machinations of the party.

“We could tie ourselves in knots. Alex Salmond would love that. Real change for the Scottish Conservatives won’t come from a new name.”

She added: “Under my leadership, there will be no existential crisis, no wringing of hands. Instead I want people to call themselves Scottish, Conservative and Unionist.”

Jackson Carlaw, a West of Scotland MSP also opposed to Mr Fraser's plan, is the third candidate standing for the leadership.

Scottish Tory Leadership Candidate Rejects Call For Greater Economic Powers

Ruth Davidson distances herself from rival contender Murdo Fraser's proposal to scrap ties with UK Tory party.












Ruth Davidson the first openly gay Tory to stand for the party leadership, opens her campaign.

A contender to become Scotland's next Tory leader has rejected demands for far greater economic powers for the Scottish parliament in an open appeal to traditional Tory voters.

Ruth Davidson, at 32 the youngest of the three candidates and the first openly gay Tory to stand for the party leadership, would draw "a line in the sand" at new powers to give modest control over income tax and borrowing.

She also repeatedly distanced herself from Murdo Fraser, the favourite, by dismissing his dramatic proposal to scrap the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party and replace it with a centre-right party separate from the UK Tory party.

That was a "distraction" which would "tie the party in knots" for a year, Davidson said before rejecting the suggestion for more financial autonomy for Scotland, also supported by Fraser.

Portraying herself as the fresh-faced saviour, Davidson said: "Under my leadership, there will be no existential crisis, no wringing of hands. [The] values which made me an instinctive Conservative - that drive my politics - are shared by Scots the length and breadth of the country."

She predicted, however, that it would take a decade before the Tories were strong enough to share power at Holyrood. Her primary objective was to defend the United Kingdom in the run-up to the independence referendum being proposed by the Scottish government.

She described the measures being debated in the Lords to give Holyrood powers over income tax and new £2bn borrowing powers as a one-off "MOT" for the Scottish parliament.

She also dismissed proposals to set a second question on increased financial powers at the referendum.

"I believe that the United Kingdom is a force for good in this world. I believe that we in Scotland walk taller, shout louder and stand stronger for being part of that union," she said, as she became the last of the candidates to launch her campaign.

At the referendum, there would be "no half-way house, no second question, no march to fiscal autonomy. When the referendum is done and Scotland in the union has won the day, let that be an end to it."

Davidson is said to be the candidate most favoured by David Cameron but is the least experienced and least well-known.

Fraser has held a series of prominent party positions, been an MSP for 10 years and is deputy leader at the Scottish parliament.

Jackson Carlaw, the other contender, is seen as the most right-wing and traditional. Twice elected deputy chairman of the Scottish party and a list MSP since 2007, he has a strong base in the west of Scotland party but is seen by senior party figures as too reactionary to suit modern Scottish voters.

Davidson, a former BBC journalist and Territorial Army officer, has a female life partner was elected to Holyrood in May on the party list for Glasgow. She has attracted the fewest well-known supporters, besides John Lamont, one of the few Tories to win a constituency seat outright in May.

She said she was the only candidate who can present herself as one of a new generation of Tories who could convince Scottish voters to rejoin the party.

Younger voters knew little and cared little about Margaret Thatcher's premiership, a period many Tories concede destroyed the party's reputation in Scotland.

After losing every Westminster seat in 1997, the Scottish Tories have had only one MP for the last three elections. In Scotland it lost two seats at the May Holyrood elections, bringing their numbers down to 15.

"There's not just one but two generations of voters after me who have no knowledge of Margaret Thatcher ... Scotland has moved on. The Scottish Conservative party has moved on," she said.

SNP ‘Ducking And Diving’ On Poll

Opposition parties have responded to a poll showing a Yes vote for independence leading a No vote by saying the First Minister should stop “ducking and diving” and get on with the referendum.


















The survey – the latest in a series of 10 identical snapshots by TNS-BMRB, revealed exclusively by The Herald yesterday – put those in favour of Scotland breaking from the rest of the UK ahead by 39% to 38%, only the second time this has happened in the series and the first time for more than three years.

Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray said: “It is no surprise that, after the SNP winning a majority, many Scots are thinking about our constitutional future, and that is right.

“We saw a similar effect after the SNP first formed a government in 2007.

“The SNP is going to hold a referendum and the important thing is that it stops ducking and diving on the date, the question, and what it means by separation.”

He added: “The people of Scotland have a right to know what exactly the SNP is proposing, and to debate those plans for separation with all the information necessary.

“After four years and several White Papers, it is just not credible for Alex Salmond to claim he cannot answer the basic questions.”

Echoing those sentiments, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie MSP said: “This poll confirms that independence is closer than ever before, with there now being a real danger than Scotland could split from the rest of the UK.

“The SNP has successfully created a warm fuzzy glow about how Scotland would perform as a separate country but has failed to provide any of the detail as to the costs of that separation.

“It has so far refused to answer the six big questions on independence posed last week but it cannot duck and dive for ever.”

The Scottish Tories, now in the middle of a leadership battle, did not respond but a Downing Street spokesman insisted: “The Prime Minister’s position on the Union is clear.

“He has said on a number of occasions that he would make the case for it again and again.”

A spokesman for the First Minister said: “We welcome this poll showing a majority for independence and showing growing numbers of people in Scotland are determined this country should aspire to a better future, taking responsibility for our own affairs.

“Clearly, the attacks on independence in recent days from the Westminster Tory and LibDem Coalition Government – far from making a positive case for the Union – have backfired badly and boomeranged on them.

“The UK Government has so far refused to respect the result of the Scottish election in May, in terms of the need for more powers, and has resorted to recycling old scare stories instead.

“The people of Scotland do not respond well to such scare stories and the fact that negative campaigning does not work was one of the essential lessons of the recent Scottish election, but the Unionist parties do not seem to have learned from that.

“The more that Scotland is talked down to, the more the people of Scotland will set their sights on a better future.”

The TNS-BMRB has used the wording suggested in the White Paper four years ago to ask people on a straight agree/disagree basis.

Apart from the headline figures of the 39%-38% lead for independence, the high level of undecideds, at 23%, would make a referendum campaign all to play for.

The poll showed greatest hostility to independence in Lothian and the south of Scotland, where opposition is still some 15 to 16 points ahead.

Support among men is higher than among women by 43% to 36% and peaks between the ages of 34 and 44 at 47% compared with 32% against.

The Way Of All Tory Flesh

There are three things to be said about Murdo Fraser's willingness to put his own party out of its misery: this is not a new idea, it is not enough, on its own, to spark a centre-right revival in Scottish politics and it is a brave way to begin a leadership campaign. Tactically it is a risky ploy; strategically it makes sense. Put all this together and there's every chance, yet again, that nothing will come of it.









For that matter, it may be a mistake to make this the crucial issue in the leadership campaign. The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party may be feeble but it is also stubborn and most of the time it is guided by a kind of paleounionism that will lead to its extinction. So the question is this: a quick death and a new beginning o a long, drawn-out demise that will make the rebirth of Scottish conservatism more difficult than it need or must be?

It is hard to think of a successful right-of-centre party in europe that is not in some way identified as the patriotic party. The Scottish Tories have lost the ability to make that claim or be identified with the national interest. Until this is remedied there can be no secure recovery. Those Tories who claim Fraser is "appeasing" the SNP have it precisely backwards: it is the Keep Calm and Plod Along brigade that abets nationalism. Times have changed and even Tories must accept that.

Instead, however, the party has spent thirty years saying No to everything at a time when Scotland has been minded to say Yes. That must change. Much of the time - no matter how worthy their small-bore policies may have been - the Scottish Tories have viewed everything through constitutional glasses and concluded that anything that pleases the SNP or advances a sense of distinctiveness should be treated with suspicion. As such the party has rarely had anything to say and it has been easy, if sometimes unfair, to portray the Tories as the anti-Scottish party. At best, there's been the sense that the Conservatives have not always put Scotland's interests - which might include, incidentally, a centre-right revival - first.

Some of this is hard to avoid. But a modern and mature Unionism need not be afraid of nationalism. Nor must it continually pretend that independence is an impossible or lunatic dream. The contrary it is feasible and scarcely likely to result in the sky falling. The question Unionists should ask nationalists is whether independence is necessary? Yes, some things might be gained but others would surely be lost.

We have been here before. Sensible Unionists can acknowledge that the benefts of Union came at a price. Something was lost in 1707 and it was appropriate that the bells at St Giles rang out Why Should I Be So Sad on My Wedding Day? So there's been a streak of melancholy running through Unionism. Today, however, the question is on the other foot: Why Should I Be So Sad When My Divroce Papers Arrive? Perhaps because there might be a feeling that we could have made a better go of it and that our seperation was not, actually, necessary or even, when push comes to shove, something we're sure we want to go through with.

The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, however, has failed. Who really thinks it can, as presently constituted, recover? It's purpose must be more than to serve as a burial ground for the bodies left in Last Ditch Unionism. The better governance of Scotland - in whatever constitutional arrangement - should be its mission. At present why should any young, ambitious right-of-centre would-be politician join the Tories? Why not join the SNP and work for centre-right policies from within the SNP's capacious tent?

At present the SNP and Scottish Labour make claims to be the patriotic party. It might be thought preposterous that either consider it possible for them to enjoy a monopoly on patriotism but, no matter, it is evident that the Tories ceded this territory long ago and cannot win it back. For whom, at present, do they speak? And why should the rest of the country be interested in listening?

In the end, what matters more? The party or the future of right-of-centre politics in Scotland? Or, to put it another way, who dares think the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party, as presently constituted, is in any fit place to best lead or serve the interests of right-of-centre politics? Quite. It has had its chance and it has failed and now the national interest must be put above the interests of a mere political party.

Tory MSP Defiant Over Breakaway Bid

A Tory politician who announced plans for a breakaway party in Scotland without consulting Prime Minister David Cameron insists he has the political and financial support for a "new dawn" despite being rejected by the party's biggest Scottish donor.











Murdo Fraser launched his bid to lead the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party (SCUP) in Scotland on Monday with a pledge to disband it and create a new centre-right party north of the border.

The Mid-Scotland and Fife MSP has been accused of "dividing the party" and sparking a "civil war" by opponents within and outside the Conservative Party.

Mr Fraser said he has not discussed his plans with Mr Cameron as it would be "inappropriate" for the leader of the UK Conservative Party to take a position in a Scottish leadership election.

He also dismissed claims by his main leadership rival, West of Scotland MSP Jackson Carlaw, that a rejection by the party's biggest Scottish donor was "a fatal blow" to his leadership campaign.

Sir Jack Harvie, the transport tycoon and philanthropist, said Focus on Scotland, the vehicle which currently provides the majority funding for the SCUP, would not extend its funding arrangement to Mr Fraser's party

Speaking at the launch, Mr Fraser expressed disappointment with Mr Harvie's comments but said he has received support from others in the business community.

He said: "I can tell you that among existing donors to the party there is a deep sense of disillusionment, that the money that they have given to the party in recent years has not been well spent.

"They have been paying for successive campaigns with absolutely no political progress and there is a great deal of appetite for a new centre-right force in Scotland amongst people in the business community."

Mr Fraser has already gained the support of airport car park magnate John McGlynn, engineering tycoon Jim McColl and property developer Robert Kilgour for his plans.

Scottish Conservatives: A Toxic Brand?

The Conservatives in Scotland, a sorry tale of dramatic decline unmatched anywhere else in the UK.











David Cameron is keeping quiet about Murdo Fraser's proposal.

Time was when the Tories could rely on electing MPs from Scotland, with areas like Perthshire solid Tory, but the gradual erosion of their support during the Thatcher years descended into meltdown in 1997 when the Tories were wiped out in the Labour landslide.

Not one Conservative candidate in Scotland was returned to Westminster, eleven Scottish MPs lost their seats.

Even now, there is only one Scottish Conservative MP, David Mundell, despite high hopes that they might return as many as a dozen at the last election, and the party pouring money and effort into campaigning north of the border.

So, as they are about to elect a new leader to replace Annabel Goldie, the front-runner, Murdo Fraser, has come up with a radical plan: "A new party for a new Scotland."

This new party would be committed to devolution, and would work in alliance with the Conservatives south of the border.

He believes the Conservatives have become a "toxic brand" in Scotland. Recent elections would suggest that that is stating the blindingly obvious.

The new leader will be elected by the 15,000 members of the party in Scotland. There are two other candidates: Jackson Carlaw and Ruth Davidson, both MSPs

Although David Cameron, who by coincidence is in Scotland as a guest of The Queen at Balmoral, is keeping quiet about Mr Fraser's plan, others have attacked it.

Michael Forsyth, now Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, was the last Conservative Scottish Secretary (1995-1997). He describes as "naive and simplistic" the idea that changing the party name and distancing itself from the Conservatives will bring electoral success.

He believes the move is designed to appease the SNP: "I think the strategy is one of appeasement of the Nationalists, and I think it is one that will fail."

Mr Fraser, however, says senior English Conservatives are backing his plan.

Assuming Mr Fraser is elected leader, by no means a certainty of course, although he is the hot favourite, his new party will have to come up with a new name.

"Same old Tories" was one of the more polite suggestions from their opponents.

'We Can Kill Independence And Break The SNP' — Murdo Fraser To Launch Leadership Bid With Bold Message

Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Murdo Fraser has promised to "kill independence" and "break the SNP" if elected new Scottish Conservative leader.










The Perthshire politician, who is favourite to succeed Annabel Goldie, will outline his vision of a "new unionism" when he officially announces his leadership bid on Monday.

He will tell supporters the UK faces a "serious threat" and that the SNP's promised independence referendum will be the "central issue" of Scottish politics in the next few years.

Mr Fraser will use the speech to outline his vision of how the Tories can make their mark in Scotland against a background of an SNP majority at Holyrood and the looming independence referendum.

"Strengthening the union will be at the centre of everything I will do," he will say. "If Alex Salmond really believed in his own message, he would put his money where his mouth is and have a single-question referendum. No second question. No Salmond cop-out. Separation — yes or no.

"Then we can move on. We can be positive about Scotland and positive about the United Kingdom. We can kill independence and break the SNP."

Significantly, Mr Fraser will also reject full Scottish fiscal autonomy, under which all taxes would be set by Holyrood, describing it as "independence in disguise."

It had previously been thought he was open-minded about such a possibility, a view that could have put him at odds with Prime Minister David Cameron.

But he will say: "I support a new form of unionism. A new unionism that will give the people of Scotland the ability to shape their own future.

'New unionism'

"A new unionism that will provide financial devolution to the Scottish Parliament, because with power will come responsibility.

"A new unionism that calls for a more decentralised United Kingdom, at ease with itself, knowing that the whole will always be greater than the sum of the parts."

He will reiterate support for the extra powers for the Scottish Parliament set out in the Scotland Bill but reject other measures wanted by the SNP such as control of corporation tax.

"But I strongly support the principles of financial devolution, where the Scottish Parliament is more responsible for the money it spends."

But SNP MSP Stewart Maxwell attacked Mr Fraser's comments.

"Before he continues with his campaign Mr Fraser might want to reconsider his language," he said. "The last politician to threaten to 'kill nationalism' saw his party lose at this year's elections and the public back a majority SNP Government.

"Scotland wants a parliament that is working hard to build a better future, to create jobs and grow the economy. Whilst opposition parties spend their time in internal leadership wrangles the SNP will next week set out a positive programme for government that will address the concerns of voters across Scotland and take this country forward."