Ruth Davidson to swap Glasgow for Edinburgh for next year's Holyrood MSP elections

Leader of Scottish Conservatives says serving Glasgow has been a 'privilege'

Scottish Conservatives leader Ruth Davidson campaigning in Edinburgh earlier this year (Getty Images)

Ruth Davidson is to swap Glasgow for Edinburgh when she stands as an MSP at next year’s Holyrood elections, it will be announced.

The leader of the Scottish Conservatives, who currently represents Glasgow, said she intended to go through the same process as other prospective candidates seeking to contest a seat in the capital by adding her name to the Lothians list.

Ms Davidson, 36, moved to Edinburgh in February to direct the Scottish Tories’ general election campaign and has now decided to remain in the city, where she was born and attended university.

Explaining her decision in a letter to Scottish Conservative members across Glasgow, she said it had been an “enormous privilege” to serve the city but that being based in Edinburgh was in the long term interests of the party.

“My duties in the Scottish Parliament, along with my wider responsibilities as Leader of the Scottish Conservatives, have obliged me to spend an increasing amount of time in Edinburgh,” she wrote.

“Standing for election in the Lothians will enable me to maximise the time I can dedicate to those responsibilities, direct next year’s national campaign and return the largest number of Scottish Conservative MSPs to Holyrood.”

The Tories are currently the third largest party at the Scottish Parliament and have just 15 MSPs compared to the SNP’s 64 and Labour’s 38. The only Conservative MP north of the border is David Mundell, who was named Secretary of State for Scotland after the party won a majority at Westminster in May’s general election.