Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay has called for Scotland’s bloated public sector to face serious cuts

Mr Findlay claims John Swinney and the SNP can’t end the ‘mess’ of Scotland’s cumbersome public sector as they are part of the problem

‘I don’t see why that shouldn’t be achievable,’ Mr Findlay said.

‘We need to look at every single area of government in Scotland.’

Around £1.3billion of Scotland’s £27billion public sector pay bill is spent on backroom corporate functions such as communications, commercial, digital and HR, with the Scottish Government alone spending £75 million a year on policy officers and managers.

Mr Findlay said: ‘My views on improving our public services will not enthral the chattering classes.

‘I won’t get the stamp of approval from those who do very nicely out of Scotland’s big state.

‘Good. Such reactions will simply confirm that we are right.

‘If these ideas are brought forward, our public services will be able to recover and thrive.

‘Every public pound will be treated with respect.’

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He told party activists in Edinburgh the Scottish public sector was so ‘vast’ and self-serving many workers seemed to exist ‘simply to feed the machinery of state’, helping to churn out 764 official ‘strategies’ since 2015, roughly one a week.

There were reports on ‘person-centred wellbeing and spiritual care’ and ‘a feminist approach to international relations’, and an advisory group on how to charge for disposable cups.

‘This big-state circus needs to end,’ he said.

‘The SNP have created a steroid state. It has become much, much bigger. But this is an illusion – because it hasn’t got any stronger.

‘The SNP state has expanded rapidly and declined in delivery. It sucks up record sums of cash without doing any better for families, workers and businesses. Taxpayers pay for more but get less.’

He said John Swinney and the SNP couldn’t end the ‘mess’ as they were the problem.

Nor could Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar provide the answers as he was ‘just another template politician who won’t rock the boat or make unpopular decisions’.

He said the Tories would bring in a new ‘frontline first’ spending rule, so spending went on the NHS, police and schools, not ‘bureaucrats in Edinburgh’.

They would also use the ‘hard-nosed’ business practice of ‘zero-based’ budgeting in power, with every penny having to be justified each year, not budgets based on past spending.

Mr Findlay said: ‘It is only my party that stands for change in Scotland – a new way forward.

‘We are willing to make the difficult calls that others find too hard.

‘Let’s do the simple stuff well. No thrills, no hot air, no nonsense. Just common-sense delivery. Stick to what the government is there for.

‘Focus on the needs of the people using services, not the self-interest of those in charge.’

The Scottish Government was asked for comment.