Murdo Fraser is MSP for Mid-Scotland & Fife, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Business, Economic Growth & Tourism, and a candidate for leadership of the Scottish Conservatives.
When I announced last week my candidacy for leadership of the Scottish Conservatives, at the centre of my policy platform was a pledge to deliver real change, both within the Party and for Scotland. We need to give the Party back to its members, and end the top-down decision-making from which we have suffered for too long.
I have been a member of the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party for 40 years. My adult life has been spent supporting the Party, campaigning for it, and representing it at Holyrood for the last 23 years.
But our Party has been let down by leadership decisions both at Westminster and at Holyrood. Party members and activists, asked time after time to turn out at elections to knock on doors, to deliver leaflets and to donate money, have had to suffer the consequences of decisions taken at the top in which they had no say or input.
That is why I am determined to introduce a new style of leadership, should I be successful, with a proper collegiate approach to decision-making. I want to build a Party where the views of members really count, and build a team at Holyrood where I act as a leader who is first among equals, taking decisions collaboratively.
Reports would suggest that the membership of our Party in Scotland has now shrunk to just 7,000. To put that in context, that is lower than even the membership of the Scottish Greens. For a Party which is the second-largest at Holyrood, and therefore the official opposition, that is simply not good enough.
And that shrinking membership base has real consequences. It was noticeable at the recent general election campaign that, in seats where I campaigned with hard-working candidates and looking at what was happening elsewhere, there were very few volunteer activists turning out to knock on doors (once Parliamentarians and their staff were taken out of the picture).
Perhaps we should not be surprised at the shrinkage in members and activists. If we simply ask people to turn up and do what they are told, to give money, to deliver leaflets and knock on doors, and give them nothing in return, it is little wonder that numbers are drifting away.
So I want to empower our members, and have published a 12-Point Plan for how to reform the Party internally to ensure that members have a real say for the first time.
The Party constitution needs to be reviewed, with a view to reintroducing a senior position for volunteers, directly elected by the members.
In the past this was a position which had been held by former MPs such as Bill Walker and George Kynoch, providing a wise counsel at the top table of the Party to represent the grassroots – someone who is not appointed by, and therefore dependent upon the patronage of, the leader.
We need to see the establishment of regional policy forums open to all members, chaired on a rolling basis by MSPs, reporting back to an annual policy conference to which all members would be invited. As leader, I would hold a regular leader’s forum, “Meet Murdo”, for members to engage with the leader directly, and raise issues, and require annual reports to members from MPs and MSPs.
I want to see an enhanced role for local councillors, with a councillor representative to sit on the shadow cabinet, and proper training, support, and mentoring, with a dedicated staff resource for those who are at the front line of representing the Conservative Party in their communities.
We need a mentoring programme for new and prospective candidates at all levels, targeted action to attract more women into politics as activists, association office bearers, and to stand for election, and virtual communities for groups within the party such as Young Conservatives, the BAME community, and those with a specific policy interest.
If we want people to join our Party and support it, and then to campaign in elections, we have to give them reasons to be involved. At the moment not enough of these exist.
My colleague Jackson Carlaw MSP published an excellent report recently with ideas for better recognition of volunteers within the party. I want to see a full implementation of the Carlaw Commission recommendations, to ensure that our volunteers get the recognition that they deserve.
Some might argue that all this is unnecessary; that the day of mass membership of political parties is at an end. I would dispute that. We need a broad-based membership from which to draw future candidates and association office bearers, and to assist in elections.
But people will only want to join our Party if they have a reason to do so, and if they feel they will actually have a say in the way that it is being run. That is what I intend to change.
Of course, changing the Party is only the first step. We do need to have a political message about the real change that Scotland needs.
Our next political challenge is the 2026 Holyrood election, by which time the SNP will have been in power for 19 years.
That is nearly two decades of failure, during which their obsession with the constitution has meant our economy and our public services have suffered, economic growth has lagged behind the rest of the UK, and – shamefully – our education system, which was once the envy of the world, is now delivering substantially poorer results than in England.
I believe that in 2026 people will be voting for change. But we can’t just replace one left of centre party in the SNP with a different one in Labour, just because it has an alternative view on the constitution. Labour don’t offer the real change Scotland needs; the Scottish Conservative & Unionist party, under my leadership, will.
So I want a Party where the members take back control, but more importantly, I want a Scotland that takes a new direction with a government that is avowedly pro-growth, pro-business, supportive of individual liberty and personal responsibility, and reformed, efficient and responsive public services. If you agree, come and join me on this journey for real change.
Murdo Fraser is MSP for Mid-Scotland & Fife, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Business, Economic Growth & Tourism, and a candidate for leadership of the Scottish Conservatives.
When I announced last week my candidacy for leadership of the Scottish Conservatives, at the centre of my policy platform was a pledge to deliver real change, both within the Party and for Scotland. We need to give the Party back to its members, and end the top-down decision-making from which we have suffered for too long.
I have been a member of the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party for 40 years. My adult life has been spent supporting the Party, campaigning for it, and representing it at Holyrood for the last 23 years.
But our Party has been let down by leadership decisions both at Westminster and at Holyrood. Party members and activists, asked time after time to turn out at elections to knock on doors, to deliver leaflets and to donate money, have had to suffer the consequences of decisions taken at the top in which they had no say or input.
That is why I am determined to introduce a new style of leadership, should I be successful, with a proper collegiate approach to decision-making. I want to build a Party where the views of members really count, and build a team at Holyrood where I act as a leader who is first among equals, taking decisions collaboratively.
Reports would suggest that the membership of our Party in Scotland has now shrunk to just 7,000. To put that in context, that is lower than even the membership of the Scottish Greens. For a Party which is the second-largest at Holyrood, and therefore the official opposition, that is simply not good enough.
And that shrinking membership base has real consequences. It was noticeable at the recent general election campaign that, in seats where I campaigned with hard-working candidates and looking at what was happening elsewhere, there were very few volunteer activists turning out to knock on doors (once Parliamentarians and their staff were taken out of the picture).
Perhaps we should not be surprised at the shrinkage in members and activists. If we simply ask people to turn up and do what they are told, to give money, to deliver leaflets and knock on doors, and give them nothing in return, it is little wonder that numbers are drifting away.
So I want to empower our members, and have published a 12-Point Plan for how to reform the Party internally to ensure that members have a real say for the first time.
The Party constitution needs to be reviewed, with a view to reintroducing a senior position for volunteers, directly elected by the members.
In the past this was a position which had been held by former MPs such as Bill Walker and George Kynoch, providing a wise counsel at the top table of the Party to represent the grassroots – someone who is not appointed by, and therefore dependent upon the patronage of, the leader.
We need to see the establishment of regional policy forums open to all members, chaired on a rolling basis by MSPs, reporting back to an annual policy conference to which all members would be invited. As leader, I would hold a regular leader’s forum, “Meet Murdo”, for members to engage with the leader directly, and raise issues, and require annual reports to members from MPs and MSPs.
I want to see an enhanced role for local councillors, with a councillor representative to sit on the shadow cabinet, and proper training, support, and mentoring, with a dedicated staff resource for those who are at the front line of representing the Conservative Party in their communities.
We need a mentoring programme for new and prospective candidates at all levels, targeted action to attract more women into politics as activists, association office bearers, and to stand for election, and virtual communities for groups within the party such as Young Conservatives, the BAME community, and those with a specific policy interest.
If we want people to join our Party and support it, and then to campaign in elections, we have to give them reasons to be involved. At the moment not enough of these exist.
My colleague Jackson Carlaw MSP published an excellent report recently with ideas for better recognition of volunteers within the party. I want to see a full implementation of the Carlaw Commission recommendations, to ensure that our volunteers get the recognition that they deserve.
Some might argue that all this is unnecessary; that the day of mass membership of political parties is at an end. I would dispute that. We need a broad-based membership from which to draw future candidates and association office bearers, and to assist in elections.
But people will only want to join our Party if they have a reason to do so, and if they feel they will actually have a say in the way that it is being run. That is what I intend to change.
Of course, changing the Party is only the first step. We do need to have a political message about the real change that Scotland needs.
Our next political challenge is the 2026 Holyrood election, by which time the SNP will have been in power for 19 years.
That is nearly two decades of failure, during which their obsession with the constitution has meant our economy and our public services have suffered, economic growth has lagged behind the rest of the UK, and – shamefully – our education system, which was once the envy of the world, is now delivering substantially poorer results than in England.
I believe that in 2026 people will be voting for change. But we can’t just replace one left of centre party in the SNP with a different one in Labour, just because it has an alternative view on the constitution. Labour don’t offer the real change Scotland needs; the Scottish Conservative & Unionist party, under my leadership, will.
So I want a Party where the members take back control, but more importantly, I want a Scotland that takes a new direction with a government that is avowedly pro-growth, pro-business, supportive of individual liberty and personal responsibility, and reformed, efficient and responsive public services. If you agree, come and join me on this journey for real change.