Tag Archives: scottish conservatives

16 April 2026 – the press releases

By Mark Valladares | Thu 16th April 2026 - 11:05 pm

Chamberlain: Peach ballot key to holding SNP to account on secrecy and broken promises
Vote to cut the cost of living urges Scot Lib Dem leader
Scottish Lib Dems lay out manifesto plans to tackle violence against women
Greene: Tory downfall due to Findlay and Badenoch’s leadership

Chamberlain: Peach ballot key to holding SNP to account on secrecy and broken promises

Speaking ahead of the SNP’s manifesto launch, Scottish Liberal Democrat deputy leader and campaign chair Wendy Chamberlain MP has urged Scots to use their peach ballot paper to …

Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged Alex Cole-Hamilton, cost of living, ending violence against women and girls, jamie greene, manifesto and wendy chamberlain | 1 Comment

8 April 2026 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 8th April 2026 - 11:20 pm

Cole-Hamilton takes on judo champ and pledges to restore Highland services
Cole-Hamilton: Time to beg UK Government and European operators for vessels for Dunkirk-style effort to tackle ferry crisis
Greene: Scottish Tory economy plans show they are the ‘nasty party’ again

Cole-Hamilton takes on judo champ and pledges to restore Highland services

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today tried his hand at judo alongside former Commonwealth medallist, British champion and Highland councillor Connie Ramsay, as he set out his party’s pledge to restore services to Highland communities.

In September 2025, Connie Ramsay won a Highland Council by-election for the Scottish Liberal Democrats with 38.8% of the vote, taking a seat previously held by the SNP.

In their forthcoming manifesto, the party will commit to “end the era of SNP centralisation” by:

Increasing the range of NHS services available locally;
Ensuring decisions about health services are taken as close as possible to the communities they affect and that any reform does not result in top-down centralisation;
Treating councils as equal partners with multi-year funding deals and new freedoms to innovate.
The party has continually campaigned for the restoration of consultant-led maternity services in the Far North. The party also forced the SNP’s bureaucratic ministerial takeover of social care out of the Scottish Budget after ministers threw away £30 million – equivalent to the annual salary of 1200 care workers, and money that could have been spent helping people like Margaret MacGill who Alex visited yesterday.

Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

Our country works best when decisions are taken as close as possible to those they affect. Right now, people don’t feel like they are being listened to or that they have the means to roll up their sleeves, do things differently and change their area for the better.

Almost two decades of SNP centralisation has drained local communities of the ability to shape their own future. Care homes and maternity services are just some of the facilities that have gone as a consequence. The viability of some rural and remote areas is being threatened by the lack of public transport, the ferries fiasco, the housing emergency and skills shortages.

Scottish Liberal Democrats know that every place has its own character, its own needs and priorities. We will shift power out of Holyrood and into local hands, so you can get on with improving where you live without waiting for the say-so of ministers in Edinburgh. From city centres to remote islands, and everything in between, we’ll make sure your area has the services and opportunity to live, work and raise a family.

Wherever you are, every Scottish Liberal Democrat elected in target constituencies like Caithness, Sutherland & Ross, and through the peach regional ballot paper, will deliver change with fairness at its heart.

Cole-Hamilton: Time to beg UK Government and European operators for vessels for Dunkirk-style effort to tackle ferry crisis

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today said that John Swinney should be on the phone begging the UK Government and ferry operators around Europe for extra boats to alleviate the ferry crisis.

Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged Alex Cole-Hamilton, ferries, highlands and jamie greene | Leave a comment

7 April 2026 – today’s press releases (part 2)

By Mark Valladares | Tue 7th April 2026 - 11:25 pm

Greene: Tories too chaotic to stand up to Swinney
Chamberlain: UK at risk of complicity in war crimes
Islanders will not be fooled by Swinney in “full on panic mode”

Greene: Tories too chaotic to stand up to Swinney

Scottish Liberal Democrat economy spokesperson Jamie Greene has said the Scottish Tories are “too chaotic” under Russell Findlay’s leadership to stand up to the SNP.

His comments come after Findlay launched his party’s manifesto in Edinburgh.

Mr Greene resigned from the Conservatives in 2025, accusing Findlay and his leadership of pandering to the far-right in his attempts to compete with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Greene, …

Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged alan reid, ferry service, jamie greene, us attack on iran, war crimes and wendy chamberlain | Leave a comment

30 March 2026 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Mon 30th March 2026 - 10:30 pm

Teacher numbers in STEM subjects fall by 900
606 fewer modern language teachers than when SNP came to power
Greens scrapping road projects will kill Highland communities
Greene: Calamity Kemi should apologise for cheerleading Iran War which is sending prices soaring
If you’ve been to A&E, you shouldn’t trust Swinney

Teacher numbers in STEM subjects fall by 900

Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Willie Rennie MSP has accused the SNP of “playing fast and loose” with Scotland’s economic future, as new figures revealed there are 900 fewer teachers in STEM subjects than when the SNP first came to power

New figures show that between 2008 and 2025:

…

Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged accident and emergency, foreign languages, jamie greene, neil alexander, roads, STEM, susan murray, teachers and willie rennie | 1 Comment

17 November 2025 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Mon 17th November 2025 - 10:30 pm

Asylum hotels: state-endorsed robbery will not fix the crisis
Lib Dem MP calls for National Crime Agency crackdown after “mountain of waste” uncovered in Oxfordshire
Greene calls for Scotland-wide school fire safety audit
Poll suggests Lib Dems can win over wide range of voters and take on SNP
Scottish Conservatives seem to have nothing but name-calling left

Asylum hotels: state-endorsed robbery will not fix the crisis

Commenting on the Government’s annoucement to confiscate asylum seekers’ jewellery to pay for their housing costs, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Max Wilkinson MP said:

The Government must fix the asylum system, but stripping vulnerable people of their family heirlooms will not fix a system that is costing taxpayers £6 million every day in hotel bills.

This policy goes against who we are – a nation that has long responded with compassion to those fleeing the worst atrocities imaginable.

The Liberal Democrats are calling for the end of asylum hotels and to give asylum seekers the right to work, so that they can support themselves financially, integrate and pay tax. That is how we bring down the bill – not by state-endorsed robbery.

Lib Dem MP calls for National Crime Agency crackdown after “mountain of waste” uncovered in Oxfordshire

The Liberal Democrat MP for Bicester and Woodstock, Calum Miller, has used an urgent question in Parliament to call on the Government to pay for a 150 metre illegal waste dump in Oxfordshire, and for the National Crime Agency to investigate the most serious cases.

The mountain of rubbish, which is situated in a field between the River Cherwell and the A34 near Kidlington, has been described by Calum as “pollution on a grotesque scale.”

Calum also suggested that the site has to “be seen to be believed” and condemned criminal fly-tipping gangs, who he said are “carefully planning operations to dump industrial waste in the countryside” without consideration for the “health of people or animals”.

Calum has today (Monday 17th November) used an urgent question in Parliament to call on the Secretary Of State to issue an “urgent directive” to clear up the site “before it is too late” for the River Cherwell. The cost of cleaning the pile of waste, which is up to 20 feet high, is more than the entire budget of Cherwell District Council. Calum also called for an Independent “root-and-branch review” into the Government’s response to waste crime.

Greene calls for Scotland-wide school fire safety audit

Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP for the West of Scotland Jamie Greene has urged the Scottish Government to conduct a Scotland-wide audit of fire safety in schools.

Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged asylum policy, calum miller, jamie greene, max wilkinson, school buildings, scottish parliament elections 2026, waste dumping and wendy chamberlain | 1 Comment

14-15 June 2025 – the weekend’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Sun 15th June 2025 - 11:30 pm

SNP’s ScotRail: 17,000 cancellations and 300,000 trains running late
Greene brands Findlay “McFarage”

SNP’s ScotRail: 17,000 cancellations and 300,000 trains running late

In his first major investigation since being appointed transport spokesperson, Scottish Liberal Democrat Jamie Greene MSP has revealed that more than 17,000 trains were cancelled and a further 300,000 did not arrive on time last year on government-owned ScotRail.

Mr Greene is now calling on the Scottish Government to deliver a reliable railway system that works for all communities, all ages and the climate.

Figures provided by Transport Scotland to Scottish Liberal Democrats have revealed that:

17,491 trains were cancelled in the financial year

…

Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged jamie greene and rail travel | 1 Comment

13 June 2025 – Friday’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Sun 15th June 2025 - 3:04 pm

Davey: International leadership is needed now
Davey urges Starmer to forge new UK-Canada defence pact to reduce reliance on Trump
Greene to Tories: It’s Kemi-geddon
Greene: Badenoch might as well say vote Lib Dem

Davey: International leadership is needed now

Following Israel’s strikes in Iran overnight, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

People across the UK and the world will be fearing the break-out of widespread regional conflict in the Middle East, following Israel’s strikes overnight.

The UK must work with allies to contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions through diplomacy, not war.

The UK Government should urge both Israel and Iran not to do anything that will escalate the situation any further.

International leadership is needed now.

Davey urges Starmer to forge new UK-Canada defence pact to reduce reliance on Trump

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has called on the Prime Minister to forge a new UK-Canada defence pact, to strengthen national security and boost the economy, while reducing both countries’ reliance on Donald Trump’s US administration.

It comes as Keir Starmer is expected to arrive in Canada ahead of the G7 summit beginning this weekend.

This week the Trump administration said it would review the submarine deal with the UK and Australia, saying the security pact must fit its “America First” agenda.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

Trump has shown his disregard for our collective security time and time again – not least this week, displaying total indifference to his traditional allies by threatening the future of the AUKUS defence agreement.

We should work with our Commonwealth ally Canada as it joins the UK in increasing defence spending, but also looks to move away from its reliance on US military exports.

That is why I am urging the Prime Minister to propose a new, bilateral UK-Canada defence pact at the G7 this weekend, making us more secure while also boosting British manufacturing.

Greene to Tories: It’s Kemi-geddon

Speaking as the Scottish Conservative conference gets underway at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Jamie Greene said:

Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged canada, defence cooperation, ed davey, iran, israel and jamie greene | 1 Comment

13 March 2025 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Thu 13th March 2025 - 10:30 pm

Davey on PM speech: “we’ll never fix the NHS unless we fix social care”
NHS England: welcome steps but won’t matter unless Streeting “stops ignoring the elephant in the room”
Findlay should say if he agrees with Badenoch on maternity pay

Davey on PM speech: “we’ll never fix the NHS unless we fix social care”

Responding to the Prime Minister’s speech this morning, Ed Davey, who is also in Hull and East Yorkshire today, said:

There’s no doubt we need big changes like this to fix the NHS after the Conservatives left it on its knees. Now we need to see the Government take the action patients desperately need: making sure everyone can see a GP when they need one, cutting waiting lists, and fixing our crumbling hospitals.

We’ll never fix the NHS unless we fix social care – and I’m afraid the Government still isn’t treating that seriously or urgently enough. Liberal Democrats will keep pushing for the cross-party talks to finish this year, so the Government can get on with it.

The Prime Minister badly needs to read the room. People don’t want more speeches about civil service reform and government machinery, they want bold action that will turn things around for them now.

NHS England: welcome steps but won’t matter unless Streeting “stops ignoring the elephant in the room”

Responding to Wes Streeting’s statement in the Commons on scrapping NHS England, Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said:

Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged ed davey, helen morgan, NHS, social care and willie rennie | 14 Comments

28 October 2024 – Monday’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 30th October 2024 - 10:18 pm

NHS Budget announcement: “deafening silence” on social care cannot continue
Starmer speech: burden of fixing Conservative mess must not fall on families and small businesses
Lib Dems: Labour’s bus tax will hit communities
Jardine: UK Budget must help fix the NHS and care
Rennie responds to bizarre Findlay speech

NHS Budget announcement: “deafening silence” on social care cannot continue

Responding to the government’s announcement that there are funding plans to deliver two million extra NHS appointments, Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said:

The new funding is of course welcome but the deafening silence on social care cannot be allowed to continue.

Patients have

…

Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged £2 bus fare, christine jardine, ed davey, helen morgan, NHS, NHS waiting lists, tim farron and willie rennie | Leave a comment

28 October 2024 – the overnight press releases

By Mark Valladares | Mon 28th October 2024 - 7:35 am

Record number of floods in NHS hospitals as trusts experience three fires a day
Rennie responds to Findlay speech trail

Record number of floods in NHS hospitals as trusts experience three fires a day

There has been a record number of floods recorded in NHS Trusts this year with the health service’s estate reporting three fires a day, analysis of the latest NHS data by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.

In 2023/24, the NHS reported that there were 358 floods. That is a record number from when the data first started being recorded in 2021/22 when there were 176 and equates to a 28% …

Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged helen morgan, nhs buildings and willie rennie | Leave a comment

Douglas Ross: A tale of two voting systems

By Samuel Jackson | Thu 13th April 2023 - 11:28 am

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has recently called for a Unionist tactical voting pact in Scotland during the next UK general election to unseat Scottish Nationalist MPs, with free rein given to Labour in urban seats and to the Conservatives in rural ones. However, this proposal was ultimately rejected by both Scottish Labour and the UK Conservatives.

Ross inhabits two different worlds, having won one election under Additional Member System and another under First Past the Post. He is simultaneously one of seven regional MSPs for the Highlands and Islands elected via Closed Party List, and the sole MP for Moray. His position at Westminster is precarious, having won just 513 votes more than the SNP runner-up, whilst List-PR grants him greater job security at Holyrood. For the Conservatives generally, they are the second-largest party in Scotland at both Westminster and Holyrood. However, at the 2019 general election, the Conservatives won only six of Scotland’s fifty-nine seats with a quarter of the votes cast there, whilst at the 2021 Scottish parliamentary election, they won thirty-one out of 129 seats, or around twenty-four per cent, in line with their constituency and regional vote shares.

It cannot be denied that Douglas Ross has practical, real-world experience of both FPTP and PR, making him a unique figure in British politics. However, given how their Scottish branch has fared better under PR than they have under FPTP, he is also an uncomfortable paradox for the Conservatives, to which the story around his proposed pact is testament.

A prominent feature of FPTP is vote splitting, whereby electoral support split amongst several likeminded parties or candidates can result in an ideological opponent winning. Whilst this has historically benefitted the Conservatives, it has recently given a boost to the SNP, and for not dissimilar reasons. Both parties have virtually monopolised their voting bases – the right and Nationalists respectively – allowing them to disproportionately win more seats than any one party amongst their diverse oppositions.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged Douglas Ross | 15 Comments

Could the Scottish Tories back a #peoplesvote?

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 14th December 2018 - 7:53 pm

The Scottish Tories could be about to back a People’s Vote says the New Statesman’s Chris Deerin.

He cites a “prominent” Conservative MSP as saying:

“When I look at what’s going on down south, I feel appalled and embarrassed,” one prominent MSP tells me. “I hate the English party. I’m horrified at the support for no deal being expressed by party members. I’ve stopped reading ConservativeHome.”

And they might back a second referendum if it is clear that Mrs May’s deal can’t get through Parliament:

Senior Scottish Tories believe the UK is on a trajectory to crash out of the EU without a deal, and that this could be fatal for the unity of the United Kingdom. I understand that they will back any measure that prevents no deal, and could publicly express support for a second referendum – if May’s deal can’t pass parliament – as early as next week. I’m told both Davidson and her stand-in Jackson Carlaw are signed up to this position. “No deal would be disastrous and jeopardise the union so we will reluctantly have to go back to the country and ask them,” says a source.

With Theresa May’s days already being numbered, the prospect of an ultra-Brexiteer as leader is not an endearing thought to her party north of the border:

Posted in News | Also tagged brexit and peoples vote | 2 Comments

Scottish Liberal Democrats demand answers from Ruth Davidson over mental health cuts to PIP

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 8th April 2017 - 10:05 am

The Conservatives have not covered themselves in glory on social security issues recently. The removal of Housing Benefit from young people, the totally immoral restriction of benefits to two children and the deeply objectionable 8 page form that women have to complete if they want to claim for a third child conceived by rape, the cuts to disability benefits and cutting back eligibility to Personal Independence Payments for those suffering psychological distress have all shown a cruel lack of understanding of real life.

Let’s not forget the five year benefit freeze imposed by George Osborne in 2015. With Brexit bound to increase prices, that is simply unsustainable.

The cuts are significant, but even more reprehensible is the inhumane stripping of dignity from those who need our help. A civilised society supports those in need. If that makes me a bleeding heart Liberal, as Tim Farron declared he was on Question Time the other night, then I’m proud to be so.

Ruth Davidson’s Scottish Conservatives may pretend that they are nicer than their Westminster counterparts, making the right noises on mental health recently, but we can’t forget that they are the same party. Every awful thing that Theresa May’s Brexit government does reflects on them.

As health and social security spokespeople for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Alex Cole-Hamilton and I have written to Ruth Davidson asking her to state her position on the cuts to PIP. Our letter says:

Dear Ruth,

We were pleased to see your party last week join the Liberal Democrats and campaigners in declaring that the SNP Government’s new mental health strategy lacked ambition. It was the right thing to do because the new strategy will not deliver the transformation we desperately need to see.

However, we were deeply concerned to see that, in the very same week, your colleagues at Westminster were voting to restrict personal independence payments to people with mental health and anxiety conditions, affecting tens of thousands of people both in and out of work.

This shows little understanding of the complex needs of some of the most vulnerable people in our society, for example those trapped in their homes because they are too anxious to leave without someone. These people can need help to leave their home every bit as much as someone suffering from a physical condition.

Posted in News | Also tagged mental health, ruth davidson and social security | 3 Comments

Nick Clegg tells the inside story of how the Conservatives put party before country

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 1st May 2016 - 9:30 am

A couple of polls have suggested that Ruth Davidson’s Scottish Conservative Party might just edge ahead of Labour to become the official opposition in the Scottish Parliament. That is a truly horrible thought. Just imagine it, the timid, illiberal, centralising SNP opposed by David Cameron’s representative in Scotland. Their leaflets don’t push the fact that they are Conservatives. They are trying to make their campaign all about Ruth, as if she is somehow the saviour of the union. That, of course, is an argument that does not stack up, as this video from the Scottish Liberal Democrats shows.

It was the Scottish Conservatives who pretty much kept the SNP in power during their first term of minority government.

Do we really want them, with their contempt for benefit claimants, nonchalance about inequality and poverty and disregard for human rights and civil liberties, as the official opposition to an SNP government that is already so fiscally conservative and illiberal?

Their claim to be the only ones who care about the union has been shown up to be a pile of hogwash by Nick Clegg. In an article originally published in the Times and now on the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ website, he said:

As the Holyrood elections get closer and closer, I have become increasingly bemused that Ruth Davidson and others have sought to claim that the Conservatives are somehow the authentic opposition to the SNP.

It jars starkly with my experience when governing alongside the Conservatives in Coalition in Whitehall for five years.

In that time, I witnessed an odd ambivalence in the Conservative Party towards Scotland: indifference one minute; confrontation the next.

My party frequently disagreed with the Conservatives on Scottish issues, which was perhaps unsurprising since the only Scots around the Coalition Cabinet table were Liberal Democrats.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged nick clegg, Scotland, scottish parliament elections 2016 and willie rennie | 18 Comments

Farron challenges Scottish Tory Leader over EU Referendum

By The Voice | Wed 3rd February 2016 - 10:55 am

Way back in September last year, Scottish Tory Leader Ruth Davidson made some positive noises on the idea that Britain should remain in the EU. She’s been pretty quiet since, presumably not wanting to scare the many Eurosceptic horses in her own party. Her Twitter feed was silent on the issue yesterday as news broke of the draft deal

Tim Farron is up in Edinburgh today (and so far the weather is very sunny for him) and, ahead of his visit, he challenged Ruth to take on those in her party who want to take Britain out of the EU.

He said she should stop being scared of her right wing:

In England, the Tories have been hopelessly split on the issue of Europe for a generation. Now it seems that Ruth Davidson is running scared of her right wing in Scotland too.

The Prime Minister has come back with his deal. The phony war is over. It is time for people to take a stand.

Posted in News | Also tagged eu referendum, ruth davidson and tim farron | 4 Comments

LibLink: Willie Rennie: Scottish Tories are a referendum themed tribute act, draped in union flag, singing Rule Britannia

By NewsHound | Sat 23rd January 2016 - 11:15 am

Willie Rennie has written a scathing attack on the Scottish Conservatives for the Scotsman newspaper. He accused Ruth Davidson’s party of being nothing but a “referendum themed tribute act.”

In contrast, he set out a strong statement of the values the Liberal Democrats stood for:

I want liberal-minded Yes voters to know they can vote for the Liberal Democrats because Scotland needs strong liberal voices in parliament to stand up for investment in opportunity through education and good health, to guarantee our civil liberties and to protect our environment. We need a strong outward-looking, internationalist, altruistic, tolerant, reformist, pro civil liberties, pro-Europe, pro-environment, pro-business party in Scotland. You don’t get that with anyone else and Yes voters as well as No voters should back us if they want that platform.

The Tories are trying to portray themselves as the true guardians of the union, trying to characterise Labour and Liberal Democrats as flimsy at best because we won’t chuck independence supporters out of our parties.

Willie says that the Tories and the SNP are feeding off each other and trying to continue the independence debate when Scotland’s focus needs to be on its own public services:

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged Scotland, the scotsman and willie rennie | 3 Comments

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Tag Archives: scottish conservatives

16 April 2026 – the press releases

8 April 2026 – today’s press releases

7 April 2026 – today’s press releases (part 2)

30 March 2026 – today’s press releases

17 November 2025 – today’s press releases

14-15 June 2025 – the weekend’s press releases

13 June 2025 – Friday’s press releases

28 October 2024 – Monday’s press releases

28 October 2024 – the overnight press releases

Douglas Ross: A tale of two voting systems

Could the Scottish Tories back a #peoplesvote?

Nick Clegg tells the inside story of how the Conservatives put party before country

Farron challenges Scottish Tory Leader over EU Referendum

LibLink: Willie Rennie: Scottish Tories are a referendum themed tribute act, draped in union flag, singing Rule Britannia

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