Tory Findlay wants May Holyrood vote to be referendum on SNP’s ‘abysmal record’

Next year’s Holyrood election should be a “referendum on the SNP’s abysmal record in government”, the Scottish Tory leader insisted.

Russell Findlay added that Scots were “utterly sick and tired” of SNP politicians “constantly droning on about independence”.

He hit out at John Swinney’s party as SNP depute leader Keith Brown proclaimed that independence will be “the defining issue” in next year’s Scottish Parliament vote.

Mr Brown spoke out as he wrote to Mr Findlay and his Labour and Liberal Democrat counterparts Anas Sarwar and Alex Cole-Hamilton, pressing them on whether they agreed that Scotland has the “right” to decide its own future.

In the run up to the 2014 referendum, Labour, the Tories and the Liberal Democrats joined together to form the Better Together campaign to keep Scotland in the UK.

But Mr Brown recalled: “In 2014, the Better Together parties signed a pledge which said that it is for the Scottish people to decide how we are governed.”

However more than a decade later he said that the pro-UK parties “seem determined to ignore the decisions of the Scottish people”.

His comments came after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said last week that the SNP’s push for another referendum was an attempt to “distract” from the party’s record in government.

Mr Brown however argued while the parties may “disagree on independence” they must all “agree on democracy”.

The SNP MSP added: “That’s why I’ve written a letter to the leaders of the Better Together parties this morning, urging them to make public their support for Scotland’s right to decide, as they did in 2014.”

He said: “Independence will be the defining issue of next year’s election – so Anas Sarwar, Russell Findlay, and Alex Cole-Hamilton must come clean.

“Do they agree that Scotland has the right to decide our own future? Or are they happy to continue to deny Scottish democracy just like their London bosses?”

Mr Findlay however said that “Scots are utterly sick and tired of divisive SNP politicians constantly droning on about independence”.

He added: “They obsess about breaking up the UK while they trash Scotland’s public services and hammer workers with higher taxes.

“John Swinney should instead focus on cutting NHS waiting lists, tackling classroom violence, fixing the roads and growing our economy.

“The next Holyrood election should not be about another referendum on independence, but a referendum on the SNP’s abysmal record in government.”

His comments came days after SNP leader Mr Swinney insisted that having a second referendum has “never been more important, more urgent or more necessary”.

The Scottish Government published a new paper on Thursday calling on the UK Government to “make a clear commitment to respect the people of Scotland’s right to decide their future”.

And the First Minister said he is “determined” that his party win a majority in next May’s Holyrood election in a bid to force a second referendum.

It is the UK Government that has the power to allow another such vote to be held, and it has turned down requests from successive SNP first ministers for a ballot – despite the Scottish elections in 2016 and 2021 both returning a majority of pro-independence MSPs.