Russell Findlay: Voting Reform can only help the SNP

Scottish Conservatives leader Russell Findlay has insisted the 2026 election is “all to play for” despite the threat to his party from Reform UK.

Speaking in Edinburgh on Tuesday, he said a “protest vote” for Nigel Farage’s right-wing outfit would only benefit the SNP.

He also suggested that the party had not yet set out “what they represent specifically in Scotland”, hitting out at reports that some Reform supporters backed Scottish independence.

Recent polling has put Reform within a handful of percentage points of the Scottish Conservatives, which will struggle to maintain second-place position at Holyrood after the election next May.

Projections by Ballot Box Scotland from a Norstat poll published before Christmas put Reform on 13 seats – above from the Lib Dems and Greens – and the Conservatives on 18.

That same poll put the SNP on 60 seats, just shy of a majority, while Labour’s fortunes had dropped significantly since last summer, with the party projected to return just 21 seats.

Asked how the Conservatives would stop votes going to Reform, Findlay said: “Any vote for any other party can only help the SNP. It’s critical that we get the messaging across.”

He refused to say whether his party could work with Reform post-2026, saying it was “too soon” to consider this.

He also used his speech to hit out at both the Scottish Government and Scottish Labour.

He said the SNP only care that their policies “sound good”, and this had led to “division, broken promises and the worst record of any Western government”.

“Locking them out of office” was his main ambition, adding that the “2026 election is all to play for”.

And he criticised Labour for planning to abstain on the upcoming budget vote.

Findlay was also asked about his views on assisted dying in a Q&A after the speech.

He said that while his “instinctive position” was to back the policy, the debate on the topic down in Westminster had “made me a lot more cautious”.