CONSERVATIVE leader Ruth Davidson is expected to back a commission this week that will examine new powers for Holyrood, a move that has attracted a backlash from senior party members.

Davidson, who won the leadership on the back of opposing greater devolution, will instead signal that she favours a rethink of the Parliament's powers.

However, Lord Forsyth, who was a key supporter of Davidson, said the timing of the speech was a "bit odd" and that it was a "cop out" to focus on extra powers.

Davidson stood for the Scottish Conservative leadership in 2011 on a pledge to draw a "line in the sand" on devolution, and opposed Holyrood getting more powers.

Her defence of the status quo was a riposte to her main rival, Murdo Fraser, whose radical pitch to activists was to wind up the Scottish Tories, form a new centre-right party and embrace more powers.

Forsyth, whose support for Davidson during the bitter leadership contest was seen as pivotal, is sceptical of a rethink on more powers.

The peer told the Sunday Herald a commission should look at the unresolved issues created by devolution, such as the Barnett Formula and the so-called West Lothian Question.

He said: "I think it's a real cop out for people in the Holyrood bubble to talk about powers, when they should be talking what they are doing with their existing powers."

He added: "I have to say that the timing [of the speech] is a bit odd.... it does seem something of a diversion to be arguing about more powers for the Scottish Parliament, when what is at issue is whether the Scottish Parliament should have the powers of an independent country."