Scottish Tory leader urged to ‘put aside politics’ as he rejects summit invite

Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay will not attend a summit called by the First Minister aimed at countering the rise of Reform UK, as John Swinney urged him to “put aside politics”.

Ahead of the event on Wednesday, Mr Findlay urged Mr Swinney to drop his party’s push for independence, along with ruling out ever bringing back the gender reforms blocked by the UK Government in 2023.

The Government has said in the wake of this week’s Supreme Court decision that it has no plans to revisit the blocked gender reforms and is now open to working with the UK Government on the issue.

Announcing the summit in February, Mr Swinney said he sought to “lock out” the far-right – in which he included Reform UK – from Scotland’s politics.

I hope that you will reflect, put politics aside and agree to take part

In an exchange of letters between the two leaders, Mr Findlay dismissed the summit as a “talking shop”, saying the independence movement “is responsible for sowing division while seeking to blame others for your Government’s many failings”.

The First Minister accused Mr Findlay of “searching for reasons not to take part”.

“The gathering is an opportunity for Scotland to unite behind the common principle that far-right and racist hatred should have no place in Scotland and to agree a common approach to asserting Scotland’s shared values and creating a cohesive society where everyone feels at home,” he said.

“I would hope that all parties in Parliament would be able to come together around this basic premise.”

He added: “I hope that you will reflect, put politics aside and agree to take part.”

But in response, Mr Findlay said a summit was not necessary to agree “racist hatred should have no place in Scotland”, adding; “It is disappointing that you have failed to address my reasonable requests, which are to stop seeking to split up our country, stop pushing gender self-ID policies and give a commitment to being transparent and truthful with the Scottish public.

“These are consistent with your summit’s stated purpose of tackling ‘polarising forces’ in politics.

“If you wish to unite the country, you should begin by addressing these concerns, which the majority of people across Scotland share.

“As you are not prepared to do that, I am therefore left to conclude that this summit is designed to deflect attention from your party’s dismal record and for these reasons I will not be able to attend.”