Voting Reform in Scotland will only benefit SNP, warns Scottish Tory leader
Voting for Nigel Farage's Reform UK in Scotland can only benefit the SNP, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives has said.
Russell Findlay warned against "being tempted by what amounts to a protest vote" as he addressed activists in Edinburgh.
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Hide AdHe insisted only the Tories have done the “hard yards” to stand up to the SNP, and it was unclear what Reform stand for.


It comes after a UK-wide poll showed Reform pushing the Tories into third place, with the party just one point behind Labour.
Mr Farage, whose party has been endorsed by tech billionaire Elon Musk, said the Tory brand is “completely broken”.
Mr Findlay was repeatedly questioned about the rise of Reform following his first major speech of the year, in which he took aim at what he called SNP policy failures in education, housing, the NHS, rural areas, local government and taxation.
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Hide Ad"Any vote for any other party can only help the SNP, and I think it's critical that we get that message across,” he told journalists.
The Scottish Tory leader added: "One thing that I think we all see is that this party that you speak about [Reform] plays by different rules and has different standards applied to it.
"We don't know what they represent specifically in Scotland. We don't know any of their people. The ones we have seen, some of them believe in breaking up the United Kingdom, which is at odds with our position.
"It will be curious to see how they evolve. But all we can do in the meantime is show people across Scotland that we're credible, that we understand business, we understand fairness, we want to lower taxes, we want to improve education.
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Hide Ad"And after 25 years of failed, left-wing, socialist devolution, there is another way."
Asked about his message to those considering voting Reform, Mr Findlay said: "For the past 10 years plus, it's only been the Scottish Conservatives that have done the hard yards and stood up to the SNP, and more often than not Labour has fallen in behind the SNP.
"I think we need to double down on explaining that to people. There is no easy fix. Being tempted by what amounts to a protest vote will only benefit the SNP."
However, he dodged a question about whether the Tories would be open to working with Reform to keep the SNP out of power after the next Holyrood election.
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Hide Ad“In terms of the hypothetical arithmetic of how it will all look on May 7, 2026, I can’t really answer that,” he said. “My job entirely is to return as many Scottish Conservatives to Holyrood as possible.”
Elsewhere, the West Scotland MSP, who took over as Scottish Tory leader in September last year, insisted the SNP “must face justice” for the “damage” the party has done to Scotland.
He brought up his background as an investigative journalist and said the same values still drive him in politics.
Mr Findlay said his party would stand for “change” in the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.
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