Ruth Davidson to tell Tory conference Government must lead the way in ending dominance of London
Scottish leader will say that something is wrong when you can 'sell a three bed semi in Ilford and buy up half of Sutherland'
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Your support makes all the difference.Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson is to tell her party’s conference that the country must become less “London-centric” and the Government should lead the way by moving government jobs north.
Ms Davidson, who is widely credited with saving the 2017 election for the Conservatives, after her party gained twelve seats in Scotland, will make the case for the union, but will say that “the Union [must] be spread evenly - and not just based in London".
Ms Davidson has been widely tipped as a future Conservative leader, but has so far shown no indication that she wishes to leave the Scottish Parliament for a Westminster seat.
She will tell her party: "It's wonderful that our small island nation plays host to the capital of the world.
"But the truth is for all the devolution of power in the last twenty years, our Union continues to be far too London-centric.We live in a country where the property values of London's top 10 boroughs are worth more than all of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales combined.
"Where you can sell up a three-bed semi in Ilford, and buy half of Sutherland.
"Where, in a capital city already zooming forward on the jet fuel of high finance, the economy is further boosted by enough civil servants to fill Wembley stadium.
"It is time for change - to fulfil the plans we set out at the election this year ... to give Britain a shake and spread more of our Union outside the capital."
She will argue that "if our civil service and cultural bodies are to claim to be UK institutions, they must represent and be present across our whole United Kingdom".
The speech comes after the Scottish Tory leader called for "serious people" to take charge of Brexit - a comment seen as an attack on Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson - arguing that "over-optimism" about the future of Britain outside the EU "sells people short".
On Ms Davidson’s watch, the Conservatives have become the second largest party in the Scottish Parliament, overtaking Labour in the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections, which means she leads the formal opposition in Holyrood.
Were it not for the party’s growing popularity north of the border, the 2017 election would have been even more disastrous for Theresa May.
The Conservative party conference begins in Manchester today. Two years ago, in the same place, attendees were hit with eggs and prominent cabinet ministers booed in lengthy protests outside the conference venue.
Scottish Brexit Minister Mike Russell said: "This latest bout of Tory squabbling on Brexit demonstrates two things.
"First, they still do not know what they want from Brexit and now we have the UK's Foreign Secretary wanting something as a red line which is simply impossible to achieve. Indeed, his conditions would in effect scupper the prospect of any transition.
"Secondly, if they carry on like this, no-one will trust them. EU member states cannot be expected to take them seriously in the negotiations when every week a new position emerges and a new spat is ignited.
"What is most troubling is that this latest bout of infighting comes as ONS statistics suggest the UK economy is in real trouble.
"Britain has gone from the top to the bottom of the league of G7 leading economies since the EU referendum vote. And the Bank of England is warning of an interest rate increase later this year.
"The continued uncertainty and lack of clarity on the terms and potential impact of Brexit is damaging confidence in our economic prospects."
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