With all 690 candidates for the Scottish Parliament elections now confirmed, the race is now officially on across the country. The Scottish Conservatives have published their manifesto, download our briefing to find out how their policies might affect your organisation, including deep dives into energy, health and housing:
The polls so far show an opposition landscape in Scotland that has been dramatically redrawn. With Labour support falling and Reform and Greens rising, the Conservatives, who held 31 seats in 2021, are predicted to fall to somewhere between 9 and 15 seats, with polling variation reflecting genuine uncertainty about where their support will ultimately land.
For the Scottish Conservatives specifically, this is survival politics. The party has explicitly positioned the election as a “stop the SNP majority” campaign, betting that tactical voting on the regional list will be enough to prevent Swinney from claiming a referendum mandate. Russell Findlay has made clear this is not a campaign to win government - it’s a campaign to deny government to the SNP and reset the terms of opposition.
Whether that strategy works depends partly on polling variance and partly on how voters respond to the independence question in the final weeks. But the Conservative manifesto itself is built for opposition, not government. The party is articulating a clear alternative vision - lower taxes, lower benefits spending, energy policy based on affordability rather than net zero targets, and regulatory relief for business. These are opposition arguments, not government commitments.
Read our full Conservative manifesto analysis here.
