Ross: Handling of Brexit and Covid-19 undermines the Union
The Scottish Conservative leader has slammed his own party’s handling of Brexit and corona virus. Douglas Ross criticised the UK government’s approach and accused them of alienating the Remain voters of Scotland.
Mr Ross also demanded more was needed to be done to show the “shared values” of the UK. He said: “There is no getting away from the fact that Brexit and how it has been delivered has undermined the perception that there are common shared values that unite us .“We failed to bring our country back together again after the vote,” he said. “Leave and Remain parts still feel divided more than four years on from the decision.
“We did not build a consensus around delivering Brexit. Instead there has been a winner-takes-it-all approach. And that has alienated former Remain supporters who still feel aggrieved at the referendum result. In Scotland, the outlet for that anger and frustration is the SNP.”
The Moray MP also claimed the corona virus pa nd emic had underlined failings in Westminster and Holyrood, with the two governments not working together properly.
He said: “The Covid-19 crisis has put the structures for interaction between the UK government, devolved administrations and indeed the English mayoralties to the ultimate test.
“And I think that even the most committed defender of the current system would admit that they have been found wanting.
“On one hand, the UK government’s suspicions around the security of information has been legitimate. But on the other, devolved ad mini st rations, responsible for managing the virus in their nations, have been forced to look for detail on announce - ments from publicly available press releases.”
The MP has now demanded Westminster make clear that it cares.
He said: “We can continue to talk in facts about the economic importance of the UK or the democratic mandate which meant that we had to leave the EU.
“And about practical changes to the way that we govern our country to em power the Scottish government and devolved administrations, and increase the visibility of the UK Government. These are important, but the key driving force behind the independence movement right now is the perception that our values are no longer shared.
“After the Brexit process and the handling of the pandemic, they no longer see our Union as underpinned by shared values, as special.”
In a clear dig at his own party, Mr Ross suggested the problems came by not acting with all four nations in mind.
He said: “Do not govern solely for the majority, but for everyone across our four nations, make re stating our shared Union values of openness and inclusion a part of everything the government does.”
It came on the same day he admitted the First Minis t er Ni cola Sturgeon was a better comm uni cator than Boris Johnson. “I think most objective people would say she's a better communicator than the Prime Minister, that doesn' t mean she's had a better pandemic.”