RUSSELL Findlay has been announced as the new leader of the Scottish Conservatives.
The new leader won 2565 votes, the party’s returning officer Leonard Wallace announced on Friday, with Murdo Fraser coming second with 1187 votes and Meghan Gallacher in third with 403 votes.
The turnout was 60%, with Wallace announcing the party has just shy of 7000 members, 4155 of whom voted in the leadership contest.
An MSP for the West Scotland region, Findlay worked as a journalist prior to embarking on his political career, having first been elected to Holyrood in 2021.
Findlay will inherit a difficult legacy from former leader Douglas Ross, who was driven out of the role following his decision to stand in the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East seat at Westminster in place of former MP David Duguid, who was recovering from a spinal stroke.
The Scottish Conservatives must come together after a bruising period, the party’s new leader Russell Findlay has said.
Speaking immediately after his win was announced, Findlay said the party must "come together as one united team" after a bruising period.
“Let us start the hard work right now to win back public trust," he said.
“I want to deliver the message to people across Scotland who do not feel that anyone represents them, who are scunnered by the divisiveness and fringe obsessions of the Scottish Parliament who feel let down and failed by politicians of every single party, including ours, who think politicians are all the same.
“I feel that way – I get it, but I’m not the same.”
Findlay is expected to unveil his frontbench team at Holyrood next week – but ahead of that, he will deliver a speech in Holyrood tomorrow during a ceremony to be addressed by the King to mark the 25th anniversary of the Scottish Parliament.
On Sunday, he will be on stage at the UK Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.
Elections expert Professor John Curtice told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland radio programme on Friday that the leadership election had been “fractious”, after a period when the party has seen its support fall away in the two years running up to the election.
Curtice said: “We’re talking about a party that has got just over 12.5% of the vote in the General Election, its worst performance ever.”
