The leader of the Scottish Conservatives has said he will “absolutely not” lose his seat at the Holyrood election, despite projections from a leading pollster.
Russell Findlay said he would prove the pollsters wrong and be returned to Holyrood on Thursday.
Professor Sir John Curtice, considered Scotland’s top polling expert, predicted last month that if the Conservatives win the Eastwood constituency, the party could lose a seat on the West Scotland regional list, where Mr Findlay is standing.
But the Scottish Tory leader, who is not standing in a constituency, said he was determined to outdo expectations as he campaigned in Eastwood for Jackson Carlaw, who has been the area’s MSP for 10 years.
Asked if he was worried that a win for Mr Carlaw would spell a loss for him, he told the Press Association: “Absolutely not. I want Jackson to win this constituency, and I’ll be back at Holyrood alongside him, along with a top team of conservative MSPs who will do what we’ve done for the past decade-plus, and that is take the fight to the SNP.”
Mr Findlay said he respected “all those who opine about the election and all the experts who look at polling day” but said polling “changes from day to day”.
“I’ve lost count of the number of polls,” he added, “and it’s my job to prove him (Professor Curtice) wrong and to show that we are the only party capable of stopping that SNP majority, and the way you do so is to use your peach-coloured palette paper for the Scottish Conservatives.”
Due to Holyrood’s proportional voting system, where Scots get two votes, one for a constituency and one for a region, winning a constituency MSP makes it harder to get a regional one.
In Mr Findlay’s case, that means that a victory in the Eastwood constituency, which is in the West of Scotland, would make it harder for a victory in the West of Scotland region, where he is top of the Tory list.
In 2021, the Conservatives won the Eastwood constituency as well as three list MSPs as they became the second-largest party at Holyrood. But polls currently suggest the party is in fourth place behind the SNP, Reform UK and Labour.
However, Mr Findlay insisted he was “upbeat” and “optimistic” about his chances.
He told PA: “We are used to being written off by all the experts, and we’ve proved them wrong in 2021 and 2016.
“In both of those elections, we came second at Holyrood, and critically, our party stopped the SNP from getting a majority, and that’s because pro-UK voters across Scotland recognised that only we could stand up to the SNP, and they backed us on their peach-coloured ballot paper, and I would urge them to do so again on Thursday.”
A Reform UK spokesperson said: “Russell Findlay and Jackson Carlaw can fight over the last Tory seat on the Titanic for as long as they like – the reality is the rest of Scotland have left on the lifeboats from Tory incompetence a long time ago.”
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “In Eastwood, and in seats across Scotland, if you want to reject Reform, beat the SNP and change the country, the only vote you need to cast is for Scottish Labour.”
