My Tory colleagues are wrong – Ross

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross moved to distance his party from the row erupting south of the border by declaring free school meals for children will not encourage dependency.

Mr Ross said he abstained on Wednesday night’s vote on children’s school meals, put forward at Westminster by Labour, because he was in Scotland.

He said a proxy vote would have only been given to him had he had a coronavirus-related absence.

Asked if he agreed with Conservative MPs like Ben B r a d l e y, who became embroiled in an online argument with Manchester United star Ma r c u s Rashford after saying free school meals would breed “dependency”, Mr Ross said “no”.

The newly elected leader has introduced a number of new policies to the party regarding education he admits might not be seen as traditional Tory policies, including the introduction of free school meals for children and scrapping university tuition fees.

In an exclusive interview said: “I wasn’ t in Westm inster on We d n e s d a y. I was in Scotland. The only way you can get a proxy vote in Westminster is for a Covidrelated reason.

“The proposals put forward would only affect England. I would like to see all primary school pupils have the chance to take up free school lunch and a breakfast at the start of the day too.

“I really hope political parties across Scotland will unite behind that, because there is compelling evidence around the world this is the right thing to do and I would like to see that introduced in Scotland.

“If the parties agree with me and agree with what is put forward then I hope we can have a vote on that in the Scottish Parliament and we can deliver that for young people.”

Mr Ross had previously said his policy idea of free school meals for primary 1, 2 and 3 might not be one usually associated with the Conservative Party.

He denied having to further convince other Scottish Tory MPs, after they all voted against the Labour amendment on free school meals for children down south over the holiday period.

He added: “Our manifesto for the Scottish elections in May wi l l provide that commitment. I want to see other parties in Scotland matching our aspiration for young people.

“The policy put forward by Labour at Westminster was just for England and was for the holiday period.

“The UK Government put forward their rationale in terms of the e xtra support provided through the social security system to protect families during this pandemic.

“I’ve said time and again I want to develop policies that the Scottish Conservatives can deliver to schools here in Scotland and anyone looking at those can see that ambition.

“There were five rebels. I am not against rebelling against the government myself, as you know I did it just the other week.

“But on this issue it was England only and we have a clear policy in Scotland I hope all parties can get behind.”

SNP work and pensions spokesperson Neil Gray MP said: “This was a key test Douglas Ross and he has failed abysmally.

“The Scottish Tories are hypocrites for voting against free school meals despite previously claiming to support them. They are trying to hoodwink voters with false promises by saying one thing then doing the complete opposite.”