I HAVE always classed myself as a Blue Collar Conservative. I was brought up in the South Side of Glasgow with both my parents being public servants and often times they struggled to make ends meet.

It is parents like mine who never would have given the Scottish Conservatives a second glance in the past but were taken in with Ruth Davidson and her blue collar unionist message.

They realised, along with hundreds of thousands of others that far be it from the Scottish Conservatives being the party of the rich – we stood for aspiration, high employment, good public services and of course the security of our United Kingdom.

Ruth was an incredible leader with the ability to reach out to those who had never voted Conservative before. What is often forgotten however is that there was a man assisting and helping behind the scenes – Jackson Carlaw.

I first remember meeting Jackson Carlaw at the Scottish Conservative Conference here in Glasgow back in 2017. He stood out (An emerald green tie & pink shirt combo is difficult to miss) and we had a good chat about what challenges we were facing in Glasgow and how he could help.

It was this proactive approach he had that led him to Carmunnock in my ward, close to his seat in neighbouring Eastwood, for a day of canvassing and chatting to voters for the upcoming council elections. He proved to me that day that he wasn’t all talk and that when the time came he was happy to get stuck in.

When Jackson says he is ready to take the fight to the SNP on their failures in Education, Health, Crime & the Scottish Economy I believe him.

He has demonstrated over the past year that he is more than capable of duelling Nicola Sturgeon at First Ministers Questions and that in itself is no small feat (Just ask Richard Leonard!).

We need a leader, more than ever, that will end this shambles of a Scottish Government. We need a leader who will highlight the failures of the SNP to the wider public and show that an alternative is possible. We need a leader who will be able to make a break from the past and put Scotland back on the front foot by improving our hospitals, schools and cutting taxes for ordinary working people.

It is this reason, along with his strong record as a local MSP in neighbouring Eastwood that I have decided to back him as the next leader of the Scottish Conser-vatives.