KEMI Badenoch has questioned both Reform UK and Labour’s “belief in the Union”.
In a speech to the Scottish Tory conference in Edinburgh on Friday, she said that for Nigel Farage’s party – which claimed on Friday to now have 11,000 members in Scotland – the union between Scotland and England is “just not that important”.
In contrast, Badenoch stressed the Conservatives will “always be proud” of the union.
“Our party will always be ready to protect Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom,” the Tory leader added.
She claimed for Labour and Keir Starmer, belief in the union is “negotiable”, like “every so-called promise” the Prime Minister makes.
“We know that when it really matters, like on gender or free speech or taxes, Labour will fold and vote with the SNP,” she said.
“In April this year, Nigel Farage said he would be fine with the SNP winning another five years in power.
“He’s fine with another five years of higher bills, longer waiting lists, declining school standards, gender madness, and ultimately, independence.”
Addressing her first Scottish conference since taking on the top job, Badenoch claimed: “Reform will vote to let the SNP in, Conservatives will only ever vote to get the nationalists out.”
Her speech came just over a week after a Holyrood by-election in which the Tories came fourth, well behind Reform in third.
Meanwhile an opinion poll has suggested Farage’s party could come second in next May’s Holyrood election.
In that ballot, Badenoch said Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay will “put forward a different way of doing things to the SNP and Labour”.
She promised the Tories will fight the election on a platform of “positive new policies to fire up economic growth, create opportunities for workers and businesses, reward aspiration with lower taxes, and improve school standards”.
Badenoch told the conference: “Under my leadership, and with Russell Findlay in charge in Scotland, my party knows where it stands.
“With your help, we will renew Conservative policies with common sense.”
She accepted in her speech the Tories in power at Westminster “didn’t always get things right”.
But Badenoch insisted her election, coupled with Findlay taking over to head the Scottish party last year, mean they are “under new leadership”.
She told supporters the Tories will “once again represent everyone across Scotland and the United Kingdom who believes the same things that we do”.
Adding that she is “renewing this party”, she declared: “This speech isn’t about looking back. It’s about the future. Our future.”
Part of that “positive vision of the future” includes “standing up” for the North Sea oil and gas industry, with Badenoch claiming that by increasing the energy profits levy – also known as the windfall tax – the Tories had introduced, Labour is “killing the oil and gas industry”.
Speaking about the levy, she said: “Frankly if it is allowed to remain in place until 2030, as is Labour’s current plan, there will be no industry left to tax.
“Thousands will have been made unemployed and all the while we import more gas from overseas – from the very same basin in which we are banned from drilling.”
