A SCOTTISH Tory leadership candidate said today that if his party is to hang on to its Holyrood seats, it must “reconnect” with voters who have turned to Nigel Farage’s hard-right Reform UK.

Russell Findlay was responding to a poll showing that Reform could win eight seats in the Scottish Parliament, with the Scottish Tories going from 31 to 18 at the next Holyrood election.

At the July general election, Reform took 7 per cent of the vote in Scotland.

“The Scottish Conservatives need to fully reconnect with those traditional conservative values we share with most people who cast their votes for Reform at the general election,” said Mr Findlay, adding that his party should not “spend our time pondering how right wing or not we should be.”

Mr Findlay is one of three contenders for the Scottish Tory leadership, the others being former deputy leader Meghan Gallacher and Murdo Fraser.