Jeremy Balfour blasted Scots Tory leader Russell Findlay for failing to promote a “positive agenda for real change”.
The Scottish Conservatives have suffered a major setback after a respected MSP today announced he was quitting in protest at its “reactionary politics”.
Jeremy Balfour, who has served the Lothian region since 2016, blasted party leader Russell Findlay for falling “into the trap of reactionary politics, where a positive, proactive agenda for real change has been rejected”.
The MSP is a veteran campaigner for helping disabled people find work, having been born with limb disabilities himself.
But he today claimed the Tories are not a party intent on helping society’s most vulnerable and accused Findlay of having “abandoned the effort”.
Balfour is the second Scots Tory MSP to quit the party in the last six months after Jamie Greene defected to the Lib Dems in April.
It comes at a time the Conservatives are trailing Reform UK in the polls with just eight months before the next Holyrood election.
In a letter to the party leader, Balfour said: “I have found that there is little interest from the leadership in genuine policy innovation, particularly across the Social Justice and Social Security portfolio. Increasingly, decisions seem to be made by advisors who lack experience, while senior MSP colleagues are ignored.
READ MORE: MSP charged with possession of indecent images urged to stand down from Holyrood committeeREAD MORE: Peter Murrell still owed £60,000 by SNP despite former party chief executive claiming legal aid
“Social Security in Scotland is reaching a breaking point, and I have tried time and again to convince leadership that this is an issue that we need to deal with seriously. My efforts, however, have been unsuccessful.”
Balfour continued: “Increasingly, decisions seem to be made by advisers who lack experience, while senior MSP colleagues are ignored.
“I fear that the Scottish Conservatives have fallen into the trap of reactionary politics, where a positive, proactive agenda for real change has been rejected in favour of allowing policies to be dictated by what other parties are saying and cheap headlines.”
Balfour said he intends to continue to represent his constituents in the Lothian region for the remainder of the parliamentary session as an independent MSP.
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here
