Tory MEP vacancy row intensifies as Cox blocked

An internal showdown within the Scottish Conservatives has intensified after a Euro candidate, who has threatened to sue the party, was informed officially that her ambition to become an MEP has been “withheld”.

Belinda Cox insists she is being frozen out because she has fallen foul of party leader Ruth Davidson.

Ms Cox believes she should automatically replace Lord Duncan, who stepped down as an MEP in June, because she was second on the Tory list at the last Euro election in 2014.

Party chiefs in Scotland met on Thursday night, with a businessman believed to be the preferred choice for the vacancy.

“The law is perfectly clear,” Ms Cox said yesterday. She added: “How can it be acceptable for a party to overturn a legitimate election result?”