TORY leader Ruth Davidson is planning to kick out some of her MSPs ahead of the next election.

Party insiders say some of those who unexpectedly secured a seat in Holyrood last year are not up to scratch.

Senior sources said they wanted to have a higher standard of candidate for the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.

“Quite a few MSPs who came in in 2016 aren’t up to scratch. We need to be ready for government with high-calibre talent.

“There is a lot of work going on behind the scenes.”

Another insider said: “There are high-flying people who are looking at Ruth, the direction we’re taking, and liking what they see. The challenge is to get them on board.

“We are on to something good here, but the challenge is to turn ourselves from the strong opposition to a government-in-waiting.”

The names of the MSPs who could be culled were not revealed, but the party performed better than expected last year, and some of those who were elected on the regional list might be in the firing line.

SNP MSP Sandra White said it was clear the Tories were hitting the “panic button”.

“Opinion polls now consistently show that the Tories are in third place in Scotland and falling fast under Ruth Davidson so it’s no surprise that the Tory hierarchy are reaching for the panic button,” she said.

“Clearly the Tories privately admit what everyone else knows – the more people see of Ruth Davidson’s Scottish Conservatives, the less they like them.

“However with Tory MSPs already unhappy with their leader’s failing performance it might be Ruth Davidson and not her MSPs who ends up as the lame duck.

“It doesn’t matter who stands for the Tories, changing the personnel won’t hide the fact that they are trying to force Scotland off an economic cliff-edge.”