Tory leadership hopeful Meghan Gallacher has insisted she will not back Murdo Fraser’s doomed coronation bid.

The former deputy leader rejected the idea that she could join the so-called Gang of Four in trying to stitch-up the leadership contest.

She said the battle to become the new Tory leader was now ‘definitely’ going to be between the three remaining candidates, which include frontrunner Russell Findlay.

And Ms Gallacher pledged to strengthen bonds with the UK party rather than follow Mr Fraser’s plan to review its structure and constitution in Scotland.

On Thursday, Mr Fraser was accused of a ‘stitch-up’ after three fellow candidates dropped out to join his campaign, and he called for it to be a coronation.

It is understood members of his camp and that of his main rival Russell Findlay are keen to woo Ms Gallacher to back them.

However, in an interview with the Ponsonby and Massie podcast, she said: ‘There’s definitely going to be three (candidates). No withdrawing.’

Asked if nobody had suggested she should withdrawn, she laughed and said: ‘If they did, I wouldn’t listen.’

She later clarified that nobody from Mr Fraser’s team had contacted her yet to ask her to step aside.

Ms Gallacher said she would ‘love’ both Mr Findlay and Mr Fraser to be in her shadow cabinet, but she also admitted she could serve under either candidate if they won because she has ‘so much time and respect for both of them’.

She also hit out at Douglas Ross’s style of leadership, saying she was not even ‘in the room’ for many key decisions despite being deputy leader.

Ms Gallacher said there must be an inquiry into private discussions outgoing leader Douglas Ross had with Westminster candidate Kathleen Robertson about replacing her in the Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey constituency.

She was heavily critical of the way the party has been led while she was deputy leader and said: ‘I wasn’t always in the room when decisions were taken, and that’s certainly a reflection I’ve got in terms of my time of being deputy leader. 

That doesn’t mean to say I don’t have good relationships with Douglas and the rest of the team.

‘I wouldn’t say frozen out, I just wasn’t in the room. For that, it was obviously at times difficult for me in that role. 

But, looking at the wider leadership campaign, what’s happened has happened. 

There has been a lot of different accusations and thoughts put into the public domain. I don’t think it shows us in a good light whatsoever and for me I’ve deliberately stayed out of it all.’

Asked if the culture at the top of the party needs to change, she said: ‘Yes.’

Pressed on whether this needs to be a root and branch change, she said: ‘There needs to be a complete rebuild of the party and we need to stop operating with a small tent. 

We need to open that out, we need to let more people in in terms of decision-making… I want to have more people in the room.’

In a wide-ranging podcast interview, she also set out plans to deliver a 1p cut to income tax – but also proposed council tax reform and a revaluation which would put many families at risk of big increases.

Ms Gallacher also proposed a review of free university tuition and access to universal services like the SNP’s baby box.

She said she would pledge a 1p income tax cut for Scots workers to bring rates closer to the UK.

But she also set out plans for reforms of council tax, including a revaluation of rates which could force up tax for families who live in homes which have been improved since the last revaluation in 1991.

Ms Gallacher said that ‘we need to look at’ council tax reform. Asked if it was time again to look at a revaluation, she said: ‘Yes. 

And I know this myself because my husband and I had this crazy idea that we would rebuild our house essentially got revalued as a result of that. It was way back in the 1990s since it had been last valued.

‘So I understand that and I think that we do need to look at that again because of the amount of new build housing we’ve seen it just change property values within certain areas.’

A previous analysis estimated that 57 per cent of all properties in Scotland would have changed band if a revaluation had taken place in 2014.

Half of them were thought to be in too low a band with the change meaning bills would have gone up for thousands of households with the rest benefiting from cuts.

Earlier this month, fellow leadership candidate Mr Findlay said every hard-working Scot should be given the opportunity to own their own home, and pledged to ‘turn Generation Rent into Generation Own’.

His plans include no longer charging land and buildings transaction tax for purchases under £250,000, compared to £145,000 at present.