David McLetchie wants to cut "bloated" government

Party leader David McLetchie said the first four years of the Scottish parliament had seen more public cash spent, but poorer results in health, education and the economy.

He said it was time to make devolution work.

He called for fewer ministers, MSPs and bureaucrats and more power to be devolved to allow the police, hospitals, teachers and communities to make their own decisions.

'Very different approach

Mr McLetchie said that Labour, the SNP and Lib Dems all believed that greater government control, higher public spending and increased taxes and red tape were the answers to Scotland's problems.

The Tories had a "very different approach" of "empowering" people, he said.

"This starts with smaller government and the real devolution of decision making," Mr McLetchie said at the manifesto launch at Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium.

"We will give parents and patients real choice in education and health," Mr McLetchie said.

"And we will trust our doctors, nurses, teachers and police officers, freeing them from endless political interference and bureaucracy so that they can improve our hospitals and schools, and help to create safe, secure, communities."

Mr McLetchie pledged an extra �45m to Scots police forces, including �20m to improve policing on the streets, greater freedom for hospitals to make their own decisions, and the chance for parents, teachers and communities to set up their own schools with state funding.