Deputy leader Meghan Gallacher confirms Scottish Conservative leadership bid

Scottish Conservative deputy leader Meghan Gallacher has become the latest MSP to confirm she is running for the top job in the party.

The Central Scotland regional MSP announced her candidacy on Friday, saying she offers a “new beginning” for the Tories north of the border.

She joins two other Tory MSPs – former crime journalist and current Holyrood justice spokesman Russell Findlay and ex-Olympic athlete Brian Whittle – who have declared they will run to succeed Douglas Ross.

Others including veteran MSP Murdo Fraser, who was defeated by Ruth Davidson in a leadership bid in 2011, are understood to be considering whether they will run.

Ross announced he would step down as leader midway through the recent General Election campaign.

There had been unease in the party after he put himself forward as a candidate in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East, running instead of the incumbent MP David Duguid after party chiefs deemed him too ill to stand. Ross lost the seat to the SNP.

Gallacher, a former councillor first elected to Holyrood in 2021, became the party’s deputy leader in 2022.

In a video posted on social media, she said: “The next few weeks will be important in shaping the future of our party.

“Scotland knows what we stand against, but do they know what we stand for?

“This leadership election presents the opportunity for a reset – to renew our offering to the people of Scotland and to our membership who have stood by us through the good times and the bad.”

Gallacher said she wants to build a “modern, centre-right party” with policies focusing on low taxes, property ownership, supporting families and protecting “rights and liberties”.

Pitching herself as a “bold, dynamic and fresh-faced” leader, she said she would deliver a “new beginning for the Scottish Conservatives”.

Meanwhile, Whittle wrote in The Telegraph that it is time to discuss ending free tuition and prescriptions in Scotland.

He said: “Having these conversations will be hard, not least because Labour and the SNP will see it as a golden opportunity to attack us, but I believe Scotland is ready to have those conversations.”

Having these difficult discussions will earn “respect” from voters, he added.

On Thursday, the Scottish Conservatives announced the new leader will be in place by the end of September.

Nominations formally open on August 8 and close on August 22.

While the new Conservative UK leader and successor to Rishi Sunak will not be known until November 2, the Scottish party has set out a timeline which will see its latest leader unveiled on September 27.