Confiscate driving licences from benefit fraudsters, says Russell Findlay
The Scottish Tory leader launched his party’s Benefit Fraud Bill in a speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham.
Benefit fraudsters should have their driving licences confiscated, Russell Findlay has said as he spoke at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham.
The Scottish Tory leader launched his party’s Benefit Fraud Bill which he says would see maximum sentences doubled to 10 years, and an “end the irresponsible tick-box approach for claims and create a statutory aggravator for benefit-related fraud.”
The UK Labour Government has introduced measures south of the border which allow the Department for Work and Pensions to disqualify those in benefit debt from driving.
Mr Findlay told the Scottish fringe event in Birmingham: "We will introduce a Benefit Fraud Bill to help recover overpayments. We will demand taxpayers' get their money back, instead of just asking nicely.
"Overpayments could be taken directly from bank accounts, as happens elsewhere in the UK.
"Driving licences could be confiscated if refunds are not forthcoming. Our law would double the maximum sentence for benefit fraud to 10 years.
"Our bill will end the irresponsible tick-box approach for claims and create a statutory aggravator for benefit-related fraud. This means that prosecutors would take a stronger approach when taxpayers have been robbed.”
The bill will be introduced by Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Murdo Fraser, who stood against Mr Findlay in the 2024 Scottish Tory leadership election.
Mr Findlay criticised the SNP’s “light-touch approach” which “traps people on the misery of Benefits Street and gives a green light to chancers and crooks.”
He said: "My party values the safety net of social security, despite the tiresome anti-Tory tropes peddled by our rivals.
"But Scotland's benefits system under the SNP is broken. Around one pound of every seven spent by them goes on benefits.
"By 2031, Scotland's benefits bill will be more than £9billion. That's more than we spend on schools, universities, colleges, police, courts and prisons combined.
"Social security should be there for times of need, it shouldn't be a lifestyle choice. The SNP's own evidence shows parents turning down pay rises, promotions or overtime because they get more on benefits.
"Since some benefits were devolved to Scotland, some claimants only need to tick a box to keep the money rolling in.
"The SNP boast about their light-touch approach to benefits. When I mention it, I'm criticising their stone-cold stupidity.
"This light-touch approach traps people on the misery of Benefits Street and gives a green light to chancers and crooks.
"Despite this barely any suspected benefit fraud cases are being reported, and since 2022 only three fraudsters have been convicted.”
It is unclear if the Scottish Conservatives would be able to take away people’s driving licences because the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is reserved to Westminster.
Mr Findlay also said that the SNP’s “obsession” with independence was “dangerously irresponsible”.
He said: "We face Russian hostility in our waters and Iranian plots on our streets. These totalitarian regimes want a divided United Kingdom.
"And we have SNP politicians who share that aim. They want to shut down Faslane. They oppose Britain's armed forces. They would make us less safe.
"In today's volatile world, relentless SNP chatter about independence is no longer just a dangerous distraction. It is now dangerously irresponsible."
Later in the afternoon, Mr Findlay also addressed the issue of Scottish independence in a separate speech on the main stage at the conference, where he warned that those who say the threat to the Union has passed are “dangerously complacent”.
He said that the SNP have never respected the result of the 2014 independence referendum result but pledged that he and UK Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch would stand up to them.
Mr Findlay said: “I’ll keep fighting for Scotland. I’ll stand up to divisive nationalism.
“I’ll back oil and gas, just as we did in the Aberdeen South by-election.
“And with Kemi, we’ll show the people of Scotland there is another way.
“Of educational excellence, fairer taxes, lower benefits, efficient public services and a strong economy.”
Scottish Lib Dem MSP Willie Rennie said Mr Findlay’s speech was “demoralised”.
He said: “Having lowered themselves to previously unexplored depths of incompetence before being kicked out of government, the Tories are stuck on a path to ever more extreme positions in Scotland.
“While Scottish Liberal Democrats are holding the Scottish government to account on the cost of living and fixing our struggling schools, NHS and social care system, the Tories are trying to keep themselves going by out-Reforming Reform.
"Russell Findlay’s demoralised conference speech only confirmed their hearts aren’t really in it."
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Public bodies in Scotland have already a duty to ensure that public funds are properly authorised and controlled and deliver value for money. Taxpayers’ money is subject to appropriate scrutiny and parliamentary accountability.
“Every benefit application is subject to a robust decision-making process, with applications assessed thoroughly ensuring support only goes to those who are eligible.
“All intelligence on suspected fraud is thoroughly investigated, with appropriate actions taken."
UK leader Kemi Badenoch said at the opening of the conference that the Conservatives will “win the next election” because the party will follow a set of key principles set out by her.
Mrs Badenoch cast her party as a “new” Conservative outfit to that which lost the last election, as she opened its annual gathering in Birmingham.
She harked back to how her predecessor Margaret Thatcher built support for the Conservatives in the late 1970s with a political treatise called “The Right Approach”.
Mrs Badenoch’s 95-page document, called “The Right Way”, similarly lays out her own basis for how a future Conservative government would act should it seize power.
Mrs Badenoch said: “When we win the next election, and we will, we are going to need to hit the ground running.
“We will need to be ready from day one, having already shown people what kind of government we are going to be, and that is why today I have published The Right Way.”
Referring to ex-prime minister Baroness Thatcher’s The Right Approach, a document published in 1976, Mrs Badenoch said: “We governed for 18 years after that, because we started with the right foundations, and we are going to do the same again.”
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