SNP fire back at MP, branding him ‘incompetent’

A SCOTS Tory cheerleader for Brexit has been branded incompetent after suggesting constitutional chaos kept MPs from doing the day job. Aberdeen South MP Ross Thomson made the excuse after he was caught up in a row over the handling of a Commons report. Its findings sparked an internal Tory row involving a government minister. Thomson later said he regrets the report included a number of “inaccurate allegations”. He claimed: “The BY ANDY PHILIP a.philip@dailyrecord.co.uk Loan Charge APPG report is a hefty piece of work. Given the time demands on MPs over Brexit, with hindsight, not enough time was allocated to scrutinise the report properly before publication.”

Thomson has been a vocal campaigner for Brexit and is seen as a supporter for Boris Johnson.

Time-consuming arguments and votes have swamped parliamentary debating time for months. Thomson also criticised the SNP recently for avoiding the “day job” while focusing on independence.

An SNP spokesman: “After championing a disastrous hard Brexit, Ross Thomson is now using the chaos caused as a smokescreen to cover for his own incompetence. Voters in Aberdeen will be sick fed up of him.”

The Loan Charge APPG committee produced a 91-page report into payments demanded by HM Revenue and Customs.

The procedure applied to people who used a tax loophole to take wages as a loan to legally cut their tax bills.

The report criticised Central Devon MP Mel Stride, who has responsibility for HMRC.

MPs said he had refused to come to their inquiry and criticised him in print.