Why Ruth Davidson thinks Scottish Conservative split would be ‘electoral suicide’

Ruth Davidson has warned splitting the Scottish Conservatives from the UK party would be “a short route to electoral suicide”.

The former Scottish Tory leader said it would “alienate many members, activists and supporters”. The idea of some sort of split is already being discussed as part of the coming Scottish Tory leadership contest.

Scottish Tory MSP and Scotsman columnist Murdo Fraser previously mooted the idea of a breakaway party when he ran against Baroness Davidson in 2011.

Former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson. Picture: PA

Speaking to the Holyrood Sources podcast, he suggested he now favoured a Canadian-style model in which a separate party would sit in Holyrood, but the Tories would still contest UK elections in Scotland.

"So the UK Conservative party, under the Canadian model, would still fight elections in Scotland, but it just wouldn't fight elections to Holyrood," he said.

Mr Fraser is among upwards of a half a dozen Tory MSPs considering a bid for the top job after Douglas Ross announced his intention to resign during the general election campaign. Russell Findlay is so far the only MSP to have formally announced his candidacy.

Baroness Davidson told the Daily Mail: “I've never believed in breaking up the party. And, in Scotland, a divided party is a short route to electoral suicide.

"Splitting apart will alienate many members, activists and supporters. You're either a Conservative and Unionist or you're not, and I know where I stand on that. A split party is still a split party, however you slice it.”

Ms Davidson said earlier this month of the UK Conservative leadership that whoever succeeds Rishi Sunak must be given time in the role, stressing that “chopping and changing” leaders makes the party look “increasingly chaotic and rudderless”.

She said: “After a defeat as heavy as the one we just suffered, it would be easy to form a counsel of despair or to be too shellshocked to take the correct decisions and lay the building blocks for future success.”