Ruth Davidson calls for Conservatism '˜reboot'

Scottish Conservsative leader Ruth Davidson. Picture: Toby Williams

The Holyrood opposition leadersaid that while the world had become richer, healthier and better educated, the consensus for liberal democracy was crumbling.

Ms Davidson, writing in article for the website UnHerd, said if capitalism was going to be saved, a “boldness of the kind we don’t often see from government is going to be necessary”.

The article calls for a “Ctrl + Alt + Del reboot” of Conservatism.

She wrote: “It is not enough for government to facilitate a discussion about where next for Britain, it has to actually lead.

“The short-term, election cycle nimbyism of prohibitive planning laws needs to cease and there is no room for one-of-the-in-crowd Davos sycophancy either.

“At home and abroad we need to press the case for fairer markets.”

Davidson concluded that capitalism needed a reboot nationally and internationally in order to help those that the system is not working for.

She also used the article to outline areas where reform was needed, including the need to build housing on greenbelt land and make giant corporations like Amazon pay their fair share of tax.

Davidson also warned ministers to end in-fighting in the Cabinet and to bang ‘the drum for Conservatism.’

Following the article’s publication on Saturday, an unnamed senior Scottish Conservative told the Sunday Times that Davidson was “appalled at the defensive crouch” the UK government had got into.

They added: “Losing a majority doesn’t mean that you don’t make the case. It means you make it twice as hard.

“Stop fighting among yourselves and start banging the drum for Conservatism because if we don’t, we lose.”