‘Rising star’ raised in council house considering bid for Scottish Tory leadership

“I believe the economy must be front and centre of the debate to elect the next leader of the Scottish Conservatives,” she said.

“Women are essential to growing the economy, but are too often facing economic disadvantage.

“We face systemic barriers to climbing career ladders and starting a business, with the system too often incentivising part-time work and low-paid jobs. That’s what I want to see change.”

Ms Gallacher is from a working class area in North Lanarkshire and was raised in a former council house close to the Ravenscraig steelworks, which was shut down in 1992 in what both Labour and the SNP claim was a sign of Tory disdain for Scottish industry.

She has said both of her parents backed for Scottish independence but she came to the realisation that she was a Tory due to the influence of her grandmother, a lifelong Conservative.

Ms Gallacher said she “can’t see any benefit” to the Scottish Tories breaking away from the UK party.

‘A new relationaship’

However, she said a new leader should “establish a new relationship” and that the Scottish Tories had “more clout in the UK party than we have been prepared to use in the past”.

Miles Briggs, a Tory MSP, revealed on Sunday that he had gone off the idea of a breakaway Scottish centre-Right party, which he previously supported.

He said he believed the proposal would damage prospects for the next Holyrood election, less than two years away.

Mr Briggs, the Scottish Tory housing spokesman, said he would support Mr Findlay should he confirm his leadership bid.

Writing in the Scottish Mail on Sunday, Mr Findlay claimed the Scottish Parliament had “become a prisoner of the sectional interests of MSPs and powerful lobbyists pushing their own agendas and peculiar priorities” such as the hate crime law.

He criticised the SNP’s “handout culture” and backed an “honest debate” over “the nature and affordability of government programmes in Scotland”.

Mr Findlay added: “Bridging the increasing disconnect between the governing class in Scotland and the people needs to be our priority.

“I don’t want to ‘smash the system’, I’m a conservative after all. But I do want to give it a right good shake.”