Ross to give up MP role at the next UK election
DOUGLAS Ross plans to quit as an MP at the next General Election to focus on Holyrood, the Mail can reveal.
The Scottish Conservative leader said he will stand aside as MP for Moray at the end of this parliamentary term.
But he insisted that there is no prospect of him stepping down before the election.
He also confirmed that he is preparing the Scottish Tories for the possibility of Boris Johnson triggering an early election – in 2023.
In an interview at the party conference in Manchester, Mr Ross said: ‘I was re-elected as MP for Moray in 2019. I gave a commitment then to serve them in this Parliament and that is what I am going to do until the next election.’
Asked if he will stand again in the constituency, he said: ‘No. I’ve said I will see out my term as an MP.’
Highlands and Island MSP Mr Ross has had to take part in Holyrood debates and ask questions of Nicola
Sturgeon remotely when he has had to be at Westminster for vital votes.
But he said he will not step aside from his MP role before the next general election, saying it gives him an opportunity to ask questions on key Scottish issues at Westminster.
Since the Holyrood election in May, Mr Ross has become a father for the second time and is also still a football assistant referee – although he has not officiated since early this year due to a hamstring injury.
But he insisted he will not give up the football role as he is only involved at weekends. He said: ‘Nicola Sturgeon can go home to Glasgow and read books, Willie Rennie used to go hill running and, before I got injured, I officiated football matches.
‘I think people can understand that politics is a very important and serious business to be involved in but also you need a bit of time on your own. For me, that is officiating in front of crowds in grounds across Scotland.
‘It is something I enjoy, it is something a lot of people can relate to – they quite often want to speak to me about football before they want to speak to me about politics and other things.’
He said that balancing his multiple jobs is no different to what many people need to do.
Mr Ross has used the Conservative conference to launch a sustained push for working-class voters and branded Nicola Sturgeon as ‘out of touch’ with them. The comments led to Miss Sturgeon challenging him to visit working-class communities with her to ‘see who is horribly out of touch with them’.
Yesterday, Mr Ross wrote to the First Minister to formally accept the invitation and offer to join her at ‘one of the working-class communities in Glasgow that have been devastated by the drug death crisis’.
During a late-night Scottish Tory drinks reception on Monday, Mr Ross joked about Mr Johnson’s controversial decision to hand a peerage to Tory donor Malcolm Offord and appoint him as a Scotland Office minister.
Mr Ross told delegates that if he wanted to return to his former Scotland Office job he would need to get a peerage first.
Asked if the joke indicated that he was not pleased about Mr Offord’s appointment, he said: ‘I thought I’d insert a bit of humour into what was quite a jovial evening but I’ve been clear that it is my decision who sits in my shadow cabinet and it is the Prime Minister’s decision who sits in his Cabinet and represents him as government ministers.’
‘I will see out my term’