Ruth Davidson has urged the government to prioritise NHS spending over tax cuts in a speech setting out what she called “centre-ground Conservative” vision, likely to be interpreted by many as a manifesto for a possible future bid to lead the party nationally.
The head of the Conservatives in Scotland, who has been repeatedly linked with a move to a Westminster seat, also used the address at Glasgow university to call for a new land value-based tax, and to reiterate her opposition to a set target for migration.
Davidson has regularly brushed aside talk of a shift into national politics, but her popular appeal and liberal style has seen her mentioned repeatedly as a possible future Tory leader, most recently the mooted idea she could succeed a brief Michael Gove stint in the job.
In her speech, Davidson said that Scottish Conservative plans to eventually unseat the SNP at Holyrood would require a coherent philosophy, saying her own came from “the centre-ground Conservative tradition – as someone who wants to use government to enable people and communities to grow and prosper”.
This would include having to make difficult decisions on NHS spending, she argued, saying it was right for ministers to have sought to reduce the tax burden on working families.
She added: “But the UK government has a choice to make. And, if that choice is between extra spending on the NHS or introducing further tax breaks beyond those already promised, I choose the NHS.
“Either way, we should have the honesty to recognise that this is a moment where we as a country have to choose one way or the other. My view is that people across the UK would not forgive us if we allowed this moment to pass.”
Davidson also reiterated her opposition to Theresa May’s official target of reducing annual net migration to the tens of thousands: “I see neither the sense nor the need to stick to an immigration figure devised nearly a decade ago, which has never been met and does not fit the requirements of the country.”
She also called for a liberal approach to post-Brexit immigration from EU nations. Davidson, whose fiancée is Irish, said: “We want EU citizens who live here to stay. I have an interest here: I speak as someone who is about to marry one. And to assure EU citizens and others of that wish, we need to do more.”
Describing a lack of affordable housing as the most pressing crisis facing young people, Davidson said one idea could be to create a new tax to target the increase in the value of land when planning permission is granted.
“This happened when we built new towns in the 1950s and 60s,” she said. “Landowners are paid the value of their land, but the extra funds that comes from planning permission can be used to invest back into the community.”
The latest speculation about Davidson’s potential national ambitions followed her coming together with Gove to help launch a new Tory thinktank, titled Onward. In the speech she said in had been “a genuinely uplifting experience to see a group trying to grapple with these big, strategic challenges we face as a country, and doing so with real vigour and purpose”.
