Davidson calls for sentencing changes

September 20, 2011   Tory Hoose   1 Comment
ruth-davidson

 

Scottish Conservative Leadership contender, Ruth Davidson MSP, today called for stiffer sentences for those committing crimes under the influence of drink and drugs.

 

Commenting, Ruth said: “Being under the influence if drink or drugs should never be an excuse for committing crime.

“Last year, being drunk stopped being a mitigating factor in crime – but this change does not go far enough. It should be an aggravating factor that is reflected in sentencing.

“People who lose control through drink and drug use before committing a crime have made an active choice to affect their own behaviour and judgement. They have chosen to affect the control they have over their own actions. Society has had to pay for the crimes they have committed while under the influence. I believe that such pre-meditation should be recognised at the point of punishment. There are times when being drunk or on drugs should make the sentence stiffer, not softer.”

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MURDO ANNOUNCES NEXT TWO WEEKS OF TOUR DATES

September 20, 2011   Webmaster   No comments

Leadership candidate Murdo Fraser has announced details of the nationwide tour he will be taking over the next two weeks.

Having been in Glasgow, Stirling and South Perthshire over the last few days, and held conference calls with members across Scotland, including Orkney, Murdo’s tour will now take him to:

Dundee Tuesday 20th September
Largs Thursday 22nd September
Oban Friday 23rd September
Inverness Saturday 24th September
Newton Stewart Monday 26th September
Lockerbie Monday 26th September
Strathpeffer Tuesday 27th September
Aviemore Wednesday 28th September
Edinburgh Thursday 29th September
Glasgow Friday 30th September
St. Andrews Friday 30th September
Manchester (Party Conference) Sunday 2nd – Wednesday 5th October

October tour dates will be announced in due course.

Murdo said:

“I have spoken to hundreds of members since I launched my campaign. There is a reassuring enthusiasm amongst members of all ages and from all regions of Scotland for my proposal to transform our party into a new, centre-right, progressive party for Scotland.

“Our members know better than anyone the problems our party faces. They are out on doorsteps election after election and their efforts are not being rewarded. They are fed up of fighting and fed up of losing; I share their frustration.

“Our new party will get us winning again. I want to take us back to our roots. Before 1965, we had a distinct, Scottish party which was extremely successful, and my new party will operate on a similar basis.

“Our current party has a severe identity crisis and is losing almost 40,000 votes between every election. This is not the time for more of the same. A new captain is not enough. We need a new ship.”

Murdo joins Ruth Davidson who has already begun a tour of all 59 seats in Scotland.

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Davidson gives Toryhoose a Campaign up-date!

September 19, 2011   Tory Hoose   No comments
ruth-davidson

The constituency tour has begun!

On Friday I took an early flight up to Stornoway, right on the periphery of Scotland. But just because places like Stornaway are at the edge of our country doesn’t mean they should be ignored in our policymaking. Scotland is a country where there are huge differences. What works in the Central Belt is often ineffective or irrelevant up in the Highlands or the Isles. I want to lead a party for the whole of Scotland. I want to understand the issues affecting everyone in Scotland. That’s why I am touring the whole country during this campaign. If you want to follow my progress there is a nifty map showing where I have been at www.ruthdavidson.co.uk/campaign-tour. Saturday provided me with a chance to go down to Ayrshire, a part of Scotland where the Conservatives have been able to keep winning. It was great to meet so many people, and incredibly gratifying to have so many local members tell me they are supporting me to be the next leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party. John Scott MSP, the constituency MSP, three Ayrshire Provosts (Winifred Sloan (South Ayrshire),Pat McPhee (North Ayrshire), and Stephanie Young (East Ayrshire) along with other councillors; have all declared they are supporting my campaign. I was just as delighted to receive the support of Lord Sanderson for my candidature as well.Lord Sanderson has been a great servant to the Scottish Conservatives, and of course party members overhwhelmingly endorsed his report into the best way forward for the Conservatives in Scotland. So it meant a huge amount to hear him say: “I have been impressed by Ruth Davidson and her vision for taking our party forward. In the evidence I heard as part of drawing up my report into the future of the party, it was clear that we need to make changes in order to strengthen the party. I am keen to support a young and able candidate who has great leadership potential.”

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Former Aberdeenshire MP backs Ruth Davidson

September 19, 2011   Tory Hoose   No comments

Former Aberdeenshire MP Sir Albert McQuarrie has become the latest senior Tory to give his support to Ruth Davidson’s campaign to become leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.

Sir Albert said: “I have decided to give my support to Ruth Davidson in her campaign to be the next leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.

“In placing my confidence in Ruth I am convinced she will lead the Party with a strong personal commitment to achieve the success which has eluded the Party since the catastrophic result in 1997 from which it has never recovered.

“We want no new name. We are the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party and that is what we should remain. What we do want is dedicated leaders in all sections of our Party, a revitalisation where necessary of local Constituencies and an intensive drive for new members. As almost half a million people voted for our Party in the recent elections for Westminster and Holyrood it is our job to attract many more into the Party as members by producing policies of benefit to the people of Scotland within the United Kingdom.

“All of this can only be possible if the Party has an outstanding leader who will inspire others. I am convinced in Ruth Davidson the Conservative and Unionist Party in Scotland will have the leader it needs at this time. We should all work together to restore the Party to its former glory with many Scottish Conservative and Unionist Members of Parliament being elected to serve in Westminster and Holyrood.

“I would encourage other members of the Party to give their support to Ruth Davidson in her campaign to lead this great Scottish party. Success can be won if we work for it nationally and locally to regain the trust of the people of Scotland.”

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‘A new captain is not enough. We need a new ship.’ – by Murdo Fraser MSP

September 19, 2011   Tory Hoose   No comments
murdo-fraser

 

On Friday we launched our first article from the leadership campaign. Today we give you the third and final article from the leadership contest, Murdo Fraser, Regional MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife

 

The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party keeps losing.  We lost all our MPs in 1997.  We lost vote share in 1999.  We lost seats and vote share in 2007, and then again in 2011.  It wasn’t for the lack of trying.  Our people worked hard, and we had good, strong leaders in David McLetchie and Annabel Goldie.

We thought that Scotland, like all other developed countries, needed a strong, centre-right force, and we thought that things would get better and we would fill the void.  We were right about the first part.  But we were wrong about the second part.  Because, despite all our efforts, things didn’t get better.  We didn’t fill the void.  The void just became bigger.

So we need a reality-check.  Our party – the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party – will never succeed.  It will never be able to promote the values we stand for – the values which Scotland needs.

Why? Because we haven’t practised what we preach. We are a party which believes in devolving power to people.  But we haven’t devolved power to ourselves.

As a Party we needed a distinctive Scottish identity in order to attract the votes of people who used to vote Conservative and have left us, and of people who have never voted Conservative.  They’re not nationalists – they just want the best deal for Scotland, and think that the Conservatives are too English to deliver it.

Many Conservatives will be surprised at my proposals.  Some will agree, and some will disagree.  My message to one and all is clear.  Like you, I am fed up of losing.  Fed up of working and fighting so hard for such little return.

I want us to start winning again.  But we can’t start winning unless we understand why we keep losing.  And the brutal, honest truth is that we keep losing because our party is not fit for purpose in its current form.

That’s why I think it is time to start again.  So if I am elected leader, I will turn the party into a new party for Scotland.  A new party, distinctly Scottish, standing up for Scottish interests.  A new party which supports the excellent work David Cameron’s Westminster government is doing and whose MPs support a Conservative Prime Minister, but which is not afraid to disagree with it if it’s in Scotland’s interests.  On fisheries, or the future of our historic army regiments, for example.

A new party, with a new name, and a new, positive approach to the Scottish Parliament and the decentralisation of power.  It is our only future.

We are at the stage where change – real, meaningful change – is not an option, but is a necessity.  And I don’t mean superficial change.  A fresh, new Captain of the sinking ship is not going to be enough.  We need a new ship.

Or, to be more precise, we need to build a new ship modelled on one which sailed extremely successfully in Scottish waters before 1965.  Before 1965, our party was distinct from the UK Conservative party, and had its own name.  And it was successful – so successful that in 1955 it gained the only absolute majority of votes in Scotland in the period of modern democracy.

After 1965, we centralised.  We gave power away – transferred it from Scotland to London.  Our fortunes declined, to the point where, only 46 years later after gaining a majority or votes, we sit at just over 12% of the popular vote.

Enough is enough.  I want to be the captain of a new ship.  Our new party will be the vehicle by which we can start winning again.  It will be the foot-in-the-door that we need in order to make people give us a fair hearing again.

It will help us build a new centre-right movement in Scotland – a country which has a huge number of centre-right people, but a small number of centre-right voters.  It will rejuvenate our own party from the grass-roots up.  It will reinvigorate our members and our volunteers.  It will encourage those voters who have left us for the Lib Dems and the SNP to come back.  And it will make many voters who have never considered voting Conservative before think: “Maybe next time.”

The party could reject my ideas.  It may choose to elect someone else.  It may choose the old approach of disengagement from the wishes of the people of Scotland and negativity towards our country.  I’ve seen that movie many times before, and it doesn’t have a happy ending.  Einstein said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

It’s time to learn the lesson.  It’s time to change.  It’s time for a new party for Scotland.

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Disbanding Scottish Tories will not help Cameron

September 18, 2011   Tory Hoose   3 Comments
John Lamont 


John Lamont MSP, Campaign Manager for Ruth Davidson MSP:


 


“Some may claim that a new party in Scotland could tip the balance of power


in favour of David Cameron at Westminster.  However, the reality is that


disbanding the party in Scotland would simply make us less relevant at


Westminster and put us on the side lines of UK politics. I want us to be at


the very heart of a UK Conservative Government.


 


“At UK General Elections, voters in Scotland can help to elect a


Conservative Government by voting for the Scottish Conservative and Unionist


candidate in their constituency. If the plans to disband the party in


Scotland are allowed to progress, there will be no Conservative and Unionist


candidates to vote for in Scotland. You can’t vote for a UK Conservative


Government if you can’t vote for a Conservative and Unionist candidate in


Scotland.”


 


“Our party does need to change in order for us to start winning votes and


seats across Scotland again. But the suggestion that disbanding the


Conservative and Unionist Party in Scotland will somehow help elect a UK


Conservative Government is bizarre.”


 

    
            

            
            

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Ruth Davidson MSP tells ToryHoose why she is standing as leader!

            
            

    
                September 18, 2011
                 Tory Hoose
    
                       4 Comments 
            

            
            ruth-davidson            
            

                
 


On Friday we launched our first article from the leadership campaign. Today we give you the second article from the leadership contest, Ruth Davidson, Regional MSP for Glasgow.


 


 


The contest for the leadership of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party is about more than deciding who will lead our party – it is about deciding where our party is going.


 


I am standing because I have a vision for the Scottish Conservatives as a modern, inclusive, and energised force in Scottish politics.


 


A party is not about structures and nameplates and clauses in a constitution. A party is built on shared values and common purpose.


 


The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party is an institution that grows from an ideal. The belief that every man and woman in Scotland, whatever their background, should be able to achieve their ambitions if they work hard enough.


We are the party of aspiration, opportunity, and achievement.


 


We believe that endeavour should be encouraged and success rewarded, and that no one should be excluded from either.


 


Somewhere along the way, we have lost sight of this ideal and allowed ourselves to be distracted from our purpose.


 


When purpose falters, it is easy to retreat into process.


 


The proposal to do away with the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party and found in its place an alternative party is a retreat into process.


 


The voters of Scotland share our values of family, enterprise, and personal freedom but they suspect that, when it comes down to it, we prefer to talk to ourselves than talk about what matters to them.


 


I am standing to lead a party that looks forward, not inward.


 


Let’s be blunt: the average voter couldn’t care less what we call ourselves or what our constitutional arrangements are. These are obsessions for politicians and political anoraks.


 


The voters are more concerned with the economy, better schools for their children, a flexible and reliable NHS, and making their communities safe places to raise families.


 


They want to vote for a party that represents their ambitions and interests.


 


I want to make us that party once again.


 


I want to turn the Scottish Conservatives into the natural party of aspirational Scotland. A modern party for modern Scotland – open, inclusive, and forward-looking. I want to reach out to people from communities and backgrounds and ways of life all across our country who have never voted Conservative before. I want to engage with them. I want to show them that our values are their values. That we stand for the same things. That it’s time we stood up for these values together.


 


We don’t need a new party, we need a new kind of leader. Someone who is proud to be Scottish, Conservative, and Unionist and who can make people across Scotland feel the same way. Someone who can reinvigorate our party operation and make our principles relevant to modern, 21st century Scotland. Someone who can go from church fete to TV studio, from a business lunch to a charity launch, who can sit down with working mums and graduates and first-generation Scots – and champion our message of aspiration.


 


We will continue to lose if no one understands why we want to win. I want to show voters that our purpose is to create a confident and prosperous Scotland in a strong and proud United Kingdom.


 


I will be a leader who takes us forward to the forefront of Scottish politics.


 


I will be a leader who makes the next ten years the decade when the Scottish Conservatives start winning again.


 


I will be a leader who wins for our party and for our country.

    
            

            
            

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Only 6% of Scots think Scottish Tories put Scotland first

            
            

    
                September 18, 2011
                 Tory Hoose
    
                       No comments 
            

            
                        
            

                


 


Uno Uno is a former student of Aircraft Engineering at Farnborough College of technology and a Conservative party member, he also worked as a health care assistant in the NHS and various private hospitals . Also a volunteer at Africaunited against child abuse.


 


Murdo’s campaign has released polling of 1,500 Scottish voters conducted by ORB for the Scottish party before this year’s Holyrood election. Asked whether certain parties put mainly English, Scottish or British issues first, the Scottish Conservatives were seen as the most English and the least Scottish… and by some distance:




Murdo Fraser said the findings strengthened his argument that the Scottish party needed a new identity:


“No problem was ever solved by brushing it under the carpet. We have watched our vote decline at every election since the inception of the Scottish Parliament, and this polling tells us exactly why. We have been fooling ourselves for almost 15 years and we must not allow it to go on. There is a belief amongst some that if we bide our time for another 10 years, things will get better. But we said that 10 years ago. It hasn’t got better, and it never will without radical change.”


“The anti-change approach will ultimately drag us down to a single-figure vote share, a single-figure number of seats in the Scottish Parliament, no seats at Westminster and effectively the end of the centre-right in Scotland. A new captain of the ship is not enough – we need a new ship.”


A small leak can sink a great ship, it doesn’t matter how new or old the ship is but it what matters most is the direction of the ship.  A new ship going in the same direction as we have been going for 15 years will fail especially with the same old crew. A new ship doesn’t address the problems that Murdo has raise from this polling result.


I will be brutal but honest only 6% of Scots seem to think we have Scottish interest at heart, why do we think that is? It is because we have failed to listen and connect? Changing our name will not stop just 6%of the Scots thinking we have Scottish interest at heart, but changing our behaviour will.


The problem i have with Murdo is that I don’t see him as a solution to our parties problems but I see have has part of the problem.  His strength in this campaign has been that he is more experience than Ruth, but experience in what? In the old politics that the Scottish people have rejected for the last 15 years he talks about?


An experienced Politian always try to find the easy way out “no body votes for us, what should we do change our name” that is not why people don’t vote for us.  People don’t vote for us because we don’t connect with them. People don’t vote for us because the political view of many Scots towards our party range from cynical to jaded. They have seen our party ignore their concerns altogether or pay only lip service to initiatives. The message they want is not our message, and their vision is not our vision. That has got to change and that is why Ruth is right we need a behavioural change instead of a name change .


The last few years we have been defined by our enemies, and not what we really believe. We have spent most of our time thinking about what the SNP, Labour or Lib dems think about us.  We have heard of how we can’t win in Glasgow, how we can’t win in Aberdeen and how we can’t win in Scotland, and come to accept that that is the fact; but it isn’t .


What we need to do is to start believing again in our ability to win. We must make Scottish problems our problems, and delivering real solutions. Success doesn’t come in can’ts, but in cans. We need,as a party, to knock the t out of the can’t. Cosmetics on bad policies, no matter how ‘new’ a party is, will not give us a win.

    
            

            
            

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The only leadership contender who can lead a revival of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.

            
            

    
                September 16, 2011
                 Tory Hoose
    
                       1 Comment 
            

            
                        
            

                
In the first of our leadership candidate supporter articles, Michael Kusznir, 2nd year Law student at Aberdeen and Secretary of Aberdeen University Conservatives explains why he will be voting for Jackson Carlaw:


Jackson Carlaw is the only leadership contender who can lead a revival of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.


Jackson has been a member of the party for 35 years at all levels, and he understands the inner workings of our party, and how it must change not superficially but in substance. It is that experience which gives him the ability to lead a revival of our party’s fortunes in Scotland.


In my view a New Labouresque rebranding is simply farcical. The Sanderson Commission rejected it, the Welsh Conservatives rejected it and we must reject it. Anyone who has been out campaigning will know that despite having stopped being the Tories in 1841 we will always be the ‘effing Tories’. It is policy that matters and how we develop it. Where is our policy for the hardworking man and woman who are struggling to buy their first house? Where is our support for the family terrorised by local hoodlums?


Others propose New Unionism- whatever that means day to day, or no more powers to the Scottish Parliament- is that a proper policy? Jackson has tackled the constitutional issue by proposing an early referendum and a new Act of Constitutional Settlement. Allowing the people of Scotland to empower themselves by making the choice between the 300 year old partnership with the rest of the United Kingdom or separation from it. A Constitutional Settlement then allows for a framework to be put in place capable of managing any future proposal for the transfer of powers. We must avoid a yearly commission a la Calman to appease the separatists. Just as we have slid silently into the ‘EUSSR’ we must not wake up one day and find ourselves independent in all but name.


Unlike the other candidates Jackson has begun to flesh out policies beyond the constitution. Jackson has illustrated how his long experience in the party does not equate to the status quo by changing his response on minimum pricing, and proposing term limits for list MSPs. We were right to be sceptical on minimum pricing, but our unflinchingly dogmatic stance in the last Parliament was out of touch with public attitudes. Support for this bill is not a watering down of Conservative values. We are a party of small government and for that we must seek to deal with the social ills which cost this country dearly- both economically and at the cost to the individual. Minimum pricing is said to punish responsible adults who drink in moderation. True. But responsible drinkers are paying heavily for the consequences of alcohol abuse in all of its forms – through policing costs where over 60% of all Strathclyde police call outs are alcohol related and through the costs to the NHS- over £2bn per annum. Jackson’s suggestion to use the windfall profits to generate new money to fund abstinence programmes is a means to use minimum pricing to tackle Scotland’s culture of alcohol dependency.


Term limits on list MSPs will allow new talent to be able to enter the Scottish Parliament. Limits allow for a career in Parliament to still be an attractive option while opposing statism. To me others may seem radical but their desired reforms seem to be more of the same. Jackson is laying down policy and a process to develop future policy which is inclusive, in which you and I can have a say. That is how we will make progress.


Murdo Fraser has argued for a separate party and new name under ‘New Unionism’. All new bar the fact those who are backing him only seem to be doing so as a SOS call – ‘Save Our Skin’. Ruth Davidson is selling herself as a Kennedyesque figure, a Glasgow Obama. Fair enough. Jackson has argued for better policy development, more in line with the hardworking man and woman, and a new Constitutional Settlement. Election winning policies backed by an election winning party organisation. Ultimately I will support whoever is elected but I remain to be convinced that unlike Jackson the other candidates are willing to implement changes that deal with the rot in our party.


By the way, for sake of allegations of bias let me say, I am a part time member of Jackson’s Parliamentary staff. Unlike others who bloviated against Murdo Fraser’s separatist agenda for the Scottish Conservatives on Newsnight, I value media transparency.

    
            

            
            

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What the Leadership candidates need to demonstrate to CFS members on the 8th of October.

            
            

    
                September 16, 2011
                 Tory Hoose
    
                       No comments 
            

            
                        
            

                
James Reekie is Chairman of Conservative Future Scotland and stood as the Scottish Parliamentary candidate for Dunfermline in 2011


 


As the leadership contest heats up, I am filled with a sense of disappointment that we still haven’t heard from any of the leadership candidates their vision for Scotland’s youth. I am impressed though by their commitment to Conservative Future Scotland and I am hopeful we will hear more from them further on in the campaign. Youth unemployment is at its highest since January 2007 and whilst the Coalition and the Scottish Government have claimed credit for falling overall unemployment in Scotland, neither is willing to admit that it is their job to get the private sector moving and deal with the growing number of unemployed young Scots.

Edinburgh University has announced plans to charge a graduate contribution of £9,000 per year, whilst committing 54% of generated revenue as bursaries and student support. We should be applauding Edinburgh and the Students association for its hard work in securing such a deal, but we should be expressing our disappointment at such a high level of fees for English students. We must continue arguing the case that we argued in May of this year to make the system fairer to all students in the UK. We accepted that in Scotland we could do things not only differently, but better and I am proud of the record our Party when it comes to student issues. Like other candidates during the Scottish Parliamentary Election I campaigned on a policy of introducing a graduate contribution in Scotland of £4,000 per year which would have saw increased student support. Mike Russell has also recently announced that students in Scotland should have a minimum income of £7,000, albeit with no explanation of where the money shall come from. Where we went wrong in May was that we did not have a plan to address the initial funding shortfall. It would be wise for the leadership candidates to tell us how they would plan to do so in the event that they lead us into Government at Holyrood.

I would like to see the candidates developing a youth manifesto during the Leadership contest, and committing the Party to releasing a specific policy document for Scotland’s youth in the run up to Parliamentary elections with input from youth groups across Scotland and CFS itself. The talent and expertise is there, we just need to utilise it.

In terms of CFS itself, the leadership candidates need to demonstrate their commitment to us in clear terms. CFS representation is now removed from the Party Exec ( soon to be Management Board) and there is only an onus on the political strategy/ policy group to consult with party organisations and individuals with specialised knowledge. We need to have a categorical assurance that we are one of those organisations, because we have young people with the knowledge and experience to assist our Parliamentary colleagues in broadening their appeal to young people.

Furthermore the Leadership candidates need to demonstrate a sound financial commitment to CFS. In the Sanderson commission report there was a recommendation that CFS should receive money centrally from the Party. I’ve yet to hear any more about this. The candidates need to demonstrate that they are serious about raising significant finances for the Party’s youth wing in order not only to raise our profile, but to help get our activists out there assisting MSP’s, Councillors and others in being elected. I want to see the candidates taking an active role in youth branch development, promoting CFS at Party conference and assisting us in attracting high profile speakers to our events.


We must always keep in mind that CFS does not contain just students, but all members of the Party under 30. This can include young professionals and people who don’t attend university. The candidates need to be encouraging Assocations to communicate more effectively with CFS when young members join constituencies. That way we can get a much clearer picture of where we stand. Dare I say it, we might even be able to show them a more social side to the Party.

Ruth Davidson, being the youngest candidate and only a few years off of qualifying for membership, must understand the importance of developing CFS. Murdo and Jackson are both former Scottish Young Conservative chairmen. They have the knowledge and experience. Now they need to demonstrate they can use it to CFS members on the 8th of October.

    
            

            
            

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