MSP who led anti-lockdown Faraj party in Holyrode election representing Scottish Conservative leadership – Reuters

An MSP who ran for Scottish Conservative leader last year will lead the skeptical Nigel Faraj party in next year’s Hollidod election.

Michel Ballantyne, who was defeated by Jackson Carlaw last year and then left the Tories due to disagreements with his successor Douglas Ross, was announced yesterday as Reform UK’s Scottish leader, reborn by Mr Faraj. Brexit Party.

During its launch on Monday, President of Reform UK, Richard Tice, said the lockdown restrictions were due to “human misery and misery” and that it was important for humanity to learn to live with the virus. .

Ms Ballantyne said the lockdown did not work, adding that Scotland needed a clear exit strategy from Kovid sanctions.

The party is aiming for at least five seats in next year’s Holyrode election and is expected to be on the regional list rather than constituencies. There are eight regional constituencies in Scotland, and under the Holyrode electoral system, smaller parties can usually claim one seat if they win just over five per cent of the other votes the regional MPs elected.

Mr. Faraz praised Ms. Balentine as a ‘fearless’ activist, although she told the Daily Telegraph that she had full autonomy over the party in Scotland.

Ms Ballantyne left the Scottish Tories in November, frustrated by the Scottish government’s party support for lockdown restrictions.

“Since the onset of the epidemic, I’ve always thought that maybe we should take a different approach,” Ms Ballantine said during an online press conference to announce her appointment as Scottish leader.

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“I think we should have protected the vulnerable and allowed a lot of the economy to move forward.” If you look at the amount that was spent on the epidemic, we could provide well-funded aid to protect our vulnerable citizens.

“You can see very clearly that the lock did not work. But talking about what has been done is not good, we have to see where we are going from here and how to get out of this locking position.

“But I will talk about the fact that the decisions that have been made to manage Kovid have resulted in collateral damage, much more than the loss from Kovid.”

The party will also oppose a new independence referendum and pledge that decentralized taxes will not exceed those set by the UK government.

Ms Ballantine won nearly a quarter of the vote in the two-man race against Mr Carlaw in the Scottish leadership race last year.

A Scottish Tory spokesman said: ‘Only Scottish Tories can challenge the SNP in Scotland and stop their campaign for indyref2, as we have been doing since 2014’.