THE newly elected leader of the Scottish Conservatives yesterday branded the SNP an "evangelical faith-based cult" in an anti-independence rant to the BBC.

Carlaw, who beat contender Michelle Ballantyne in the election with 4917 votes to her 1581 votes, was speaking to the BBC following his win yesterday afternoon. 

The former deputy of the party, who has said he is aiming to be Scotland's next first minister, was asked about the SNP's mandate for indyref2. 

READ MORE: Jackson Carlaw vows to topple SNP and become next First Minister

He told the broadcaster: "We had a referendum in 2014, it had the biggest turnout in the history of any plebiscite in the United Kingdom – two million people voted to remain in the United Kingdom. Even in the General Election the share of the vote that went to parties that support the United Kingdom was still about 55%, the same share that voted for the United Kingdom in 2014."

He went on: "Now I understand the SNP – it’s an evangelical faith-based cult. It believes entirely in independence and almost nothing else. That’s why Nicola Sturgeon this week took herself off to Brussels to simply talk about independence again.

"Here in Scotland we have failing public services and a failing SNP Government. It’s our job now to hold them to account and to ensure that the agenda next year, the agenda that we fight that election on, is the future of Scotland as a devolved government and we want to offer an alternative that people can say ‘we’ve had enough of all that failure, let’s vote for something different.’"

Carlaw has made clear his intention to make the Conservatives the ruling party at Holyrood, yesterday saying the SNP are “there to be replaced and I am determined Scottish Conservatives will do that”.

He has appointed MSPs Annie Wells and Liam Kerr his co-deputy leaders in the Scottish Parliament. 

READ MORE: Old tweet exposes Jackson Carlaw's Queensferry Crossing hypocrisy

The new leader has also told his party that there is a need for a fresh Unionist narrative that is not “lazy and historical”.

His words come after three consecutive polls showed there is now majority support for Scottish independence following the UK's departure from the EU on January 31. Some 62% of people in Scotland voted Remain in the EU referendum of 2016.

The SNP's depute leader Keith Brown has said Carlaw's biggest test will be standing up to Prime Minister Boris Johnson. 

Brown went on: “He used to say that Boris Johnson wasn’t fit to be Prime Minister. He was right – but then he campaigned for precisely that.

“Just as they went from Remainers to hard Brexiteers, it’s obvious that the Scottish Tories will continue to parrot whatever line they’re handed down from Westminster.”