Scottish Conservatives

The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party (Scottish Gaelic: Pàrtaidh Tòraidheach na h-Alba), known as Scottish Tories, is part of the UK Conservative Party active in Scotland. It currently holds 5 of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons, 30 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and comprises 206 of Scotland's 1,226 local councillors.

The party's policies in Scotland usually promote conservatism and the continuation of Scotland's role as part of the United Kingdom.

The party's policies promote conservatism and a pro-union position supporting Scotland continuing to be part of the United Kingdom. The Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party is Russell Findlay who was elected to the role in September 2024.

The party campaigns in elections to the UK Parliament, Scottish Parliament and local government.

The party evolved in its present structure from the Unionist Party which existed from 1912 to 1965, combining elements from the pre-1912 Conservative Party in Scotland and the Liberal Unionists. Gradually entering local government from the 1960s, the party replaced previous local groupings of Progressives and Moderates.

The party faced a decline in the latter half of the 20th century, reaching an electoral low-point in the 1997 UK election and returning no Members of Parliament. This was followed by a period of partial recovery in the 2017 election to hold 13 seats - and declining in subsequent elections.

From the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 as part of a process of devolution, the party fielded candidates resulting in 18 Scottish Conservative Members of the Scottish Parliament elected in the parliament's first election. In the 2016 election, the Scottish Conservatives replaced Scottish Labour as the second-largest party and largest opposition grouping, growing from 16 to 31 seats - a position they maintained in the 2021 election.