THE Scottish Tory leadership has descended into public acrimony, with Jackson Carlaw suggesting his rival should quit because she lacks significant support.

He also accused her of making a "huge mistake" by criticising the general election campaign he led, saying it had been approved by the Prime Minister and fought by activists.

In reply, Michelle Ballantyne has hit back by claiming her opponents are trying to undermine her with “secret recordings” and "tall tales".

Earlier this week, a recording from a members-only event revealed Ms Ballantyne had said climate change could “benefit” Scotland, but a report about it was “being suppressed”.

The feuding comes as the race to replace Ruth Davidson enters its closing fortnight, with Ms Ballantyne reportedly gaining ground on Mr Jackson, who started as the clear favourite.

Party insiders say the mood at hustings has been around 60-40 in favour of Mr Carlaw.

Ms Ballantyne was an early supporter of both Brexit and Boris Johnson, whereas Mr Carlaw has been a late convert to both.

On Wednesday, Ms Ballantyne launched a scathing attack on Mr Carlaw’s conduct of the recent general election campaign, in which the party lost seven of its 13 Scottish MPs.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, the South Scotland MSP said there was a “policy vacuum”, with the party “failed to put forward credible proposals for fixing public services”.

In a swipe at Mr Carlaw, she said the party had also “lacked vision and ambition”.

She wrote: “Our activists were desperate for something to talk about other than Indyref2. Voters knew what our party was against, but few of them know what we were for.

“We spent more time talking about the constitution than the nationalists.”

Mr Carlaw has now given an interview to the Telegraph attacking Ms Ballantyne for a lack of ideas.

The Eastwood MSP said: “In all the time that she's been in the Shadow Cabinet, Michelle is the only member of it never to have brought forward a single policy proposal or to table a single policy paper. I find all that curious."

He also dismissed her plan for a Unionist pact at the 2021 Holyrood election to oust the SNP as “fool's gold".

Mr Carlaw has been backed by almost all the Scottish Tory MPs and MSPs, while Ms Ballantyne has yet to be endorsed by any of them.

Mr Carlaw suggested she should give up: “It's incredibly important you have the confidence of people. If I had the confidence of nobody at all, it would cause me to pause," he said.

Ms Ballantyne this morning issued a statement condemning the “petty attacks”.

She said: “It’s disappointing that my critique of the unsuccessful election strategy has resulted in nervous opponents trying to undermine my campaign through secret recordings, leaks to the press and tall tales from the shadow cabinet room.

“Leadership often involves challenging conversations and difficult decisions. It’s about owning your mistakes and learning from them.

“Our party made historic gains in England and Wales in the General Election in December, but we went backwards in Scotland with the loss of seven talented and hardworking MPs.

“The result wasn’t down to our candidates or our activists; it was down to an uninspiring campaign with too much focus on the constitution - a view shared by countless party members I have spoken to in recent weeks.

“There are some in our party who find this analysis difficult to hear and accept, but if we are to stand any chance of toppling the SNP in 2021, we must accept and learn from it - and quickly.

“When something has been tried and tested and it hasn’t delivered, we mustn’t be afraid to take a bold new approach."

Mr Carlaw was confonted by the media at Holyrood after First Minister's Questions and asked about the increasingly bitter contest.

He said: "I think it’s been a huge mistake to criticise the general election campaign that the Prime Minister approved, which all our candidates fought, and in which we started with an expectation we were going to lose all our seats and achieved our second best result in 25 years.

“I’ve become increasingly concerned at that attack on our activists, and as leader of our party it’s important that I call that out and make clear to people that we have a real, strong platform to build on for the election in 2021.”

Asked the row was ruining any future working relationship with Ms Ballantyne, he said: “Well, I’ve been very disappointed by the attacks on colleagues, on our activists, and on the campaign that everybody fought.

“I have a duty to stand up for all those people who put in that work in the campaign and to ensure that we build on that – our second best result in 25 years – as we go forward to next year."