Douglas Ross: Scottish Conservative chief vows to ‘get up’ to PM

Media playback is unsupported in your gadget

The brand new Scottish Conservative chief has insisted he is not going to be afraid to criticise Boris Johnson if he believes the prime minister isn’t appearing in Scotland’s finest pursuits.

Douglas Ross stop as a Scotland Workplace minister in Could over Dominic Cummings’ journey to County Durham throughout lockdown.

Mr Ross mentioned he didn’t consider his resignation would harm his relationship with Downing Avenue.

However he mentioned the Scottish Tories had been “distinct” from the UK get together.

And he added: “If the prime minister has acquired it improper, I’ll inform him”.

Mr Ross was chatting with BBC Scotland within the second of a collection of wide-ranging interviews with Scottish get together leaders.

• Inner disputes ‘threat to SNP success’ – Sturgeon

The SNP have accused the Moray MP of being “Boris Johnson’s man in Scotland” since he was appointed get together chief earlier this month following the sudden resignation of Jackson Carlaw.

Mr Ross mentioned the prime minister had phoned to congratulate him on successful the management “inside minutes”.

However he mentioned that his place as Scottish Conservative chief didn’t imply he had an obligation to defend the UK authorities’s actions.

Mr Ross, who backed Boris Johnson’s marketing campaign to succeed Theresa Could as prime minister, mentioned: “I’ll again the prime minister the place I feel it’s proper for Scotland.

“But when I feel he has acquired one thing improper, or the place I feel the federal government has acquired one thing improper, I am going to get up and say that.

“I’ve proven individuals throughout Scotland that if I feel the prime minister has acquired it improper, I am going to inform him”.

Mr Ross wouldn’t be drawn on whether or not he believes Mr Johnson is a assist or a hindrance to his get together in Scotland, as a result of “Mr Johnson isn’t standing for election to the Scottish Parliament subsequent yr”.

He added: “The Scottish Conservatives are a definite get together from the UK get together.

“Now we have totally different insurance policies, we had totally different insurance policies on the final election and we can have a variety of insurance policies going ahead.

“However I’m the chief of the Scottish Conservatives and I am the one which’s taking the combat to the SNP day in, day trip and I am going to proceed to try this for the subsequent 9 months till the election in Could subsequent yr.”

Mr Ross mentioned he believed there had been “presentational points” over the UK authorities’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

He added: “Nobody can deny that Nicola Sturgeon presents her case very effectively.

“However really individuals who suppose Scotland has had a very totally different strategy to coping with this pandemic – that isn’t the case.

“It has been very comparable throughout the 4 nations. The chief scientific officers have labored collectively within the 4 nations, the medical advisors and the recommendation to all governments has been the identical and the choices taken have been very comparable”.

The following Holyrood election

Mr Ross mentioned his aspiration is to “take our get together ahead with a constructive imaginative and prescient for the nation and to guide Scotland as first minister”.

He mentioned could be launching a listening train to make sure that the get together’s manifesto for subsequent Could’s Scottish Parliament election could be “reflective of Scotland as a complete”.

This course of would come with organisations that “don’t naturally naturally affiliate themselves with having conversations with the Scottish Conservatives”.

He added: “Far too typically, the SNP speaks to Scotland and tells individuals in Scotland what they need to suppose, fairly than listening to what individuals do suppose.”

His predecessor, Jackson Carlaw, had already commissioned a full assessment of the get together’s insurance policies – however Mr Ross mentioned he presently had an “open guide” when it got here to coverage.

Indyref2

Mr Ross mentioned he was not stunned at Nicola Sturgeon’s affirmation that there’ll an independence referendum pledge within the SNP’s election manifesto because the get together’s raison d’etre is to “separate Scotland from the remainder of the UK”.

He mentioned: “Placing that entrance and foremost on her manifesto once more exhibits her priorities are for the separatists fairly than securing a constructive future for Scotland”.

Mr Ross mentioned the election marketing campaign ought to as an alternative be about how finest to enhance schooling, well being and the financial system fairly than on “opening up the division of the previous”.

He agreed that opinion polls presently present a majority in favour of independence, however mentioned the SNP had nonetheless not answered any of the massive financial questions that prompted it to lose the referendum in 2014.

And he claimed that it suited the SNP on concentrate on constitutional arguments as a result of it centered consideration away from the get together’s “failures” in authorities.

He additionally mentioned he wouldn’t speculate on the hypothetical query of what would occur if there was one other pro-independence majority within the Scottish Parliament after the election.

Jackson Carlaw’s resignation

There was hypothesis that Mr Carlaw was successfully pressured out as chief to make method for Mr Ross – with former get together chief Ruth Davidson being noticed visiting Mr Ross’s dwelling days earlier than Mr Carlaw stop.

However Mr Ross once more insisted that he had not recognized prematurely that Mr Carlaw was going to step down, and that Ms Davidson had visited him in a “private capability” fairly than to debate the management.

He added: “It might have been very straightforward for Jackson simply to maintain on going, however he thought the get together wanted a change.

“When that chance got here up, I knew I needed to act rapidly as a result of we had been 9 months out from an necessary election right here in Scotland and the primary opposition get together all of a sudden did not have a frontrunner”.

Lacking VJ Day occasion to be a soccer linesman

Mr Ross apologised on the weekend for lacking a VJ Day occasion in his constituency to officiate at a Scottish Premiership soccer match.

He mentioned he had been “completely improper” to take action and had “crushed myself up for days” afterwards, including that he would “probably have to surrender refereeing” after the Scottish Parliament election.

Mr Ross mentioned: “It’s one thing I’ve carried out for 20 years, I am considered one of solely ten worldwide assistant referees in Scotland and I’ve put in loads of work to get to that degree.

“However I perceive the criticisms individuals have of me for doing it.”