Conservative leader Douglas Ross has said Scotland can have a "better 2021 and beyond" as he outlined his alternative vision for the country.
He promised his party would bring forward legislation at Holyrood after next year's election to ensure councils receive a "fair" share of the cash the Scottish Government gets.
This was part of a commitment to "stand up for those communities, villages and towns that have been left behind" by the SNP, with Mr Ross - who only became the party's Scottish leader in August - saying the Tories would be focused on "rebuilding our communities" in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.
As well as promising a new funding deal for Scotland's 32 councils, he told the Scottish Conservative virtual conference that his party wanted to recruit 3,000 new teachers to improve education.
The Tories are also vowing to scrap Scotland's controversial not proven verdict in trials and bring in tougher sentences for those who assault emergency service workers.
Mr Ross promised a series of community investment deals for Scotland, which would "build new partnerships between the UK and Scottish governments, councils and business to create good jobs".
He also told how delivering universal full-fibre broadband to "every single home and business" in Scotland by 2027 would be a priority for the Conservatives.
"We are coming up with the ideas that Scotland needs after 13 years of the SNP being in power," Mr Ross said.
"While the nationalist focus is on separation, our focus is on Scotland."
After the Scottish Conservatives won a record 31 MSPs in the 2016 Scottish elections, helping deny Nicola Sturgeon's SNP a majority at Holyrood, Mr Ross said he wanted to take his party to "new heights in next year's Scottish Parliament election".
Mr Ross, speaking at the Scottish Conservative's virtual conference, promised that his party would "stand up for those communities, villages and towns that have been left behind".
He insisted that after 13 years in power in Edinburgh, the SNP had "produced slogans not policy" and "divided communities rather than empowered people".
Mr Ross said: "People across Scotland are looking at the state of our country and hoping things can be different."
He criticised the Scottish Government for "constantly" complaining to the UK Government about cash and powers at the same time as they had "shamelessly grabbed both from local government for years".
Mr Ross said: "From 2007 to 2019, the SNP Government's budget increased by 16% but the grant they gave to councils increased by less than half of this, 7%, over the same period.
"This matters, because it means money taken away from local services like schools, roads and housing."
He said: "Why should the SNP be able to raid our council budgets on a whim?
"To put an end to this, the Scottish Conservatives will bring forward legislation in the next parliament to enshrine fair funding for councils in law. Ensuring that local government is entitled to a set proportion of the Scottish Government budget each year."
He stressed: "Rebuilding our communities must start by ensuring that our councils have the necessary resources to properly deliver local services."
The Scottish Tory leader hit out at the SNP for its "pursuit of separation" despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Ross noted that some in Ms Sturgeon's party had said that a second independence referendum "could happen as early as next year", despite "everything we have gone through and are still going through" as a result of Covid-19.
Criticising the SNP, he added: "They want Scottish politics to go back to the same old, worn out arguments that we have been having for the last 13 years, to forget how we all pulled together in a time of crisis and focused on the things that really matter."
But he argued: "Surely, if ever there was a time to draw a line in our politics and to rethink our priorities, it is now."
With communities "struggling" after more than a decade of SNP rule, the new Scottish Tory leader vowed: "Rebuilding our communities will be at the heart of my party's agenda as we recover from this pandemic."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel