JACKSON Carlaw has promised to make the Tories look more like modern Scotland if elected leader of the party.

With the contest to replace Ruth Davidson as party leader opening today, the Eastwood MSP has urged supporters to put their faith in him to lead them to victory at the 2021 Holyrood election.

He has promised to come up with policies “rooted in the ‘blue-collar Conservatism’ of the centre ground”.

Carlaw – who spent most of last year in charge of the party during Davidson’s maternity leave and then following her shock resignation – is the favourite to take the job.

MSP Michelle Ballantyne has said she will put her name forward for the contest if she gets the 100 nominations from party members required under party rules.

Other senior Tories tipped for the post have now all thrown their weight behind Carlaw.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Carlaw said the Tories had “confounded sceptics and polls to become Scotland’s principal party of opposition”.

He admitted that succeeding Davidson would be “a challenge”.

READ MORE: Tory who said people on benefits should have fewer children joins leadership bid

Carlaw wrote: “Holding a tired, uninspiring and vainglorious SNP administration to account and making criticism stick, is a duty. But it is not enough. Scottish Conservatives have to raise our game.”

This, he said, would “inevitably mean having the courage to leave some of our previous positions, some even well established, behind.”

Carlaw said the party at Holyrood would also “need to look more like the Scotland we seek to represent, and to embrace procedures that deliver this”.

“In short, we need to ensure that while we have many more new MSPs joining our team in 2021, all are typical of the new generation of Conservatives representing their communities at all levels: diverse in every sense, talented, experienced, of all ages and backgrounds.”

Just seven of the Tory’s 31 MSPs are women, and 13 of the parliamentary group went to private school.

Not one of the Conservative and Unionist party MSPs are from a black or minority ethnic background.

Carlaw’s pitch comes in the wake of last month’s General Election where Boris Johnson romped to victory in part by convincing traditionally working class Labour voters to back the Tories.

Unlike Carlaw, who campaigned for Remain and backed Jeremy Hunt in the Tory leadership contest, Ballantyne has long been a supporter of both Johnson and Brexit – one of the few in the party’s Holyrood group.

The Borders MSP told the Telegraph: “Fundamentally, I think it’s important we have a leadership contest.

“It’s not about who wins. It’s about ensuring we have a democratic mandate for that decision.”