Douglas Ross to resign as leader of Scottish Conservatives after general election

Published

1 year ago

June 10, 2024

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Douglas Ross has announced he is stepping down as leader of the Scottish Conservatives after the 4 July election.

It comes following criticism over the deselection of David Duguid as a general election candidate as well as amid reports Mr Ross used Westminster expenses to travel in his role as a football linesman.

Mr Ross intends to continue his general election campaign as he seeks to win the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East seat as an MP.

In a statement released on Monday, he announced he will also resign as an MSP if re-elected to Westminster.

Mr Ross said: “I have served as MP, MSP and leader for over three years now and believed I could continue to do so if re-elected to Westminster, but on reflection, that is not feasible.

“I am committed to fighting and winning the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East constituency. Should I be given the honour to represent the people and communities of this new seat, they should know being their MP would receive my complete focus and attention.

“I will therefore stand down as leader following the election on July 4, once a successor is elected. Should I win the seat, I will also stand down as an MSP to make way for another Scottish Conservative representative in Holyrood.

“My party has a chance to beat the SNP in key seats up and down Scotland, including in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East. We must now come together and fully focus on doing exactly that.”

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Mr Ross has made the announcement in the wake of a row over his decision to stand in the Aberdeen North and Moray East constituency.

Former Tory UK government minister Mr Duguid had wanted to contest the seat, but he is currently unwell in hospital which led to the party’s management board deselecting him as a candidate.

Travel expenses row

Mr Ross’ resignation also comes amid reports by the Sunday Mail that concerns had been raised over 28 parliamentary travel claims which may have been combined with his work as a football linesman.

Under UK parliamentary rules, MPs can only claim travel from their home airport – which was either Inverness or Aberdeen when Mr Ross was MP for Moray.

They can also claim for “diverted” journeys but must supply detailed notes on the diversion.

The newspaper reported that Mr Ross’ aides raised the alarm in November 2021 over expense claims which included a £58 parking fee at Inverness Airport in July 2018 while parliament was in recess.

It also stated a £43 rail travel from Heathrow to central London was claimed the day after Mr Ross was a linesman in a match in Iceland.

Claims also include that he expensed a flight from London to Glasgow and £109 parking.

On 1 November 2020 it is alleged he claimed £48.99 for parking the day he refereed a Celtic game.

Mr Ross said it was “not possible” to go from London to a football game as he would not have had his referee kit with him.

Mr Ross stressed he has only ever claimed expenses related to his role as an MP and the costs of getting to and from Westminster.

He said the expenses claims were approved by the independent parliamentary body IPSA and he would have “no issue with them being scrutinised again”.

Mr Ross was extremely critical of Michael Matheson after the former SNP health minister was found to have breached the code of conduct in regards to his £11,000 iPad data roaming bill.

Mr Ross called for Mr Matheson, who has been suspended, to resign as Falkirk West MSP.

‘These dodgy claims need an urgent explanation’

In the wake of concerns raised over Mr Ross’ own expenses, First Minister John Swinney said he did not want to “jump to conclusions” but stated the “story raises very significant and serious issues of the potential misuse of public funds”.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie has also called for an “urgent explanation”.

She said: “These dodgy claims need an urgent explanation and Douglas Ross’ weak excuses don’t provide much reassurance.

“After his response to Michael Matheson’s iPad scandal, it would be the height of hypocrisy if Douglas Ross has also been attempting to rip off taxpayers.”

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‘Rat deserting a sinking ship’

Former first minister and Alba Party leader Alex Salmond said Mr Ross is “totally devoid of honour”.

He added: “This is the first case of a rat deserting a sinking ship whilst simultaneously trying to clamber aboard a gravy train.

“Douglas Ross requires to resign as candidate for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East where he stabbed David Duguid in the back.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he respected Mr Ross’ decision, adding that he had a record to be “proud of” as Scottish Tory leader.

Mr Sunak said: “You can read Douglas’ statement about his reasons, and I respect his decision.

“It’s been a pleasure to work with him over the time that I’ve been prime minister. He has been a steadfast champion of the union.

“He and I have worked together on two freeports for Scotland, attracting jobs and investment, standing up to the SNP’s misguided gender recognition reforms and also being unashamedly champions of Scotland’s North Sea energy industry, the only party to have consistently done that.

“So, I think that’s a track record that Douglas can be proud of, and I’ve enjoyed working with him, but I respect his decision.”

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Rachel Reeves hints at tax rises in autumn budget after welfare bill U-turn

Published

13 hours ago

July 5, 2025

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Rachel Reeves hints at tax rises in autumn budget after welfare bill U-turn

Rachel Reeves has hinted that taxes are likely to be raised this autumn after a major U-turn on the government’s controversial welfare bill.

Sir Keir Starmer’s Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill passed through the House of Commons on Tuesday after multiple concessions and threats of a major rebellion.

MPs ended up voting for only one part of the plan: a cut to universal credit (UC) sickness benefits for new claimants from £97 a week to £50 from 2026/7.

Initially aimed at saving £5.5bn, it now leaves the government with an estimated £5.5bn black hole – close to breaching Ms Reeves’s fiscal rules set out last year.

In an interview with The Guardian, the chancellor did not rule out tax rises later in the year, saying there were “costs” to watering down the welfare bill.

“I’m not going to [rule out tax rises], because it would be irresponsible for a chancellor to do that,” Ms Reeves told the outlet.

“We took the decisions last year to draw a line under unfunded commitments and economic mismanagement.

“So we’ll never have to do something like that again. But there are costs to what happened.”

Meanwhile, The Times reported that, ahead of the Commons vote on the welfare bill, Ms Reeves told cabinet ministers the decision to offer concessions would mean taxes would have to be raised.

The outlet reported that the chancellor said the tax rises would be smaller than those announced in the 2024 budget, but that she is expected to have to raise tens of billions more.

It comes after Ms Reeves said she was “totally” up to continuing as chancellor after appearing tearful at Prime Minister’s Questions.

Criticising Sir Keir for the U-turns on benefit reform during PMQs, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the chancellor looked “absolutely miserable”, and questioned whether she would remain in post until the next election.

Sir Keir did not explicitly say that she would, and Ms Badenoch interjected to say: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”

In her first comments after the incident, Ms Reeves said she was having a “tough day” before adding: “People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday.

“Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job.”

Sir Keir also told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby on Thursday that he “didn’t appreciate” that Ms Reeves was crying in the Commons.

“In PMQs, it is bang, bang, bang,” he said. “That’s what it was yesterday.

“And therefore, I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber, and that’s just a straightforward human explanation, common sense explanation.”