THE Scottish Tories have been accused of “total hypocrisy” after reports said they will block media from leadership hustings – despite strongly condemning the SNP for proposing to do the exact same thing last year.
The SNP’s depute leader at Westminster, Pete Wishart, hit out at the Conservatives after reports said the party would not allow journalists to see any debates between the six candidates in the race to replace Douglas Ross.
During the SNP leadership contest in 2023, the party had proposed excluding the media from a series of debates between Humza Yousaf, Kate Forbes, and Ash Regan to allow members a “safe space” to quiz the three.
At the time, Scottish Conservative politicians strongly condemned the decision, with party chair Craig Hoy calling it “nothing short of a disgrace”.
Hoy added: “The SNP are desperate for their internal civil war to be conducted in private, rather than airing their dirty linen in public, which explains this cowardly and paranoid media blackout.”
Ross, who was forced to resign as Scottish Tory leader in the middle of the General Election campaign, also hit out at the SNP, claiming the party was "once again hiding from proper scrutiny".
Meghan Gallacher, the Scottish Tory depute leader under Ross and one of the six candidates to replace him, also criticised the SNP at the time, sharing a post about the SNP’s proposed media ban and writing: “Nothing to see here [eyes emoji].”
Responding to the news that the Scottish Conservatives may now block media from leadership hustings, SNP MP Wishart said it showed the party’s “total hypocrisy”.
He told The National: "I'm sure everyone remembers the Tories lecturing anybody prepared to listen that these contests should be in front of the media and Craig Hoy even went as far to say that to avoid the media was 'cowardly' and 'paranoid'.
“Well here they are conducting their leadership contest in private.
“The Tories are possibly right to try and keep the embarrassing blue on blue mudslinging away from the public but they won't be able to hide their total hypocrisy on this.”
The Scottish Conservatives have faced criticism from within their own ranks after reports broke that they may bar media from hustings.
Posting on Twitter/X, candidate Murdo Fraser said the media should be allowed access to the events and blocking it would be “a disappointing decision”.
“As a candidate I would be happy to see the media invited to at least one of our hustings,” Fraser added.
Fellow candidate Liam Kerr described Fraser’s post as “correct” while Russell Findlay – who was a journalist before becoming a Tory MSP – concurred.
“As a former journalist, I’m pro-transparency,” he posted. “It’s up to our members but I’d support media access to hustings.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Tories said: “The hustings are arranged to enable party members to question the candidates, so that they can make an informed choice on who to vote for as leader.
“The party will announce the format for hustings, and arrangements for media access to them, after consulting with all of the candidates.”
Under pressure, the SNP reversed their initial decision to exclude media from their leadership hustings and instead live-streamed all of them online.
