DOUGLAS Ross has been challenged to support a General Election by the SNP, with the party warning it would be “undemocratic” for the Tories to impose another Prime Minister on Scotland without a vote.
The Scottish Conservative leader said Liz Truss made the “right decision” to quit her post on Thursday despite him previously claiming she would lead the Tories to victory at the next election.
He has since declined to join calls for an early General Election and suggested the way forward is to put in place a new Tory leader quickly to “restore stability” for the country.
But the SNP have called on Ross to change tack claiming a vote might be the only way for him to regain respect from Scots following a string of U-turns.
The SNP’s deputy Westminster leader Kirsten Oswald said: “Douglas Ross is the political equivalent of a plastic bag blowing in a gale force wind.
“He’s done so many U-turns on U-turns that no one knows what he’s for or where he’ll land next.
“Having backed Liz Truss and her disastrous budget to the hilt, before changing his mind when he had no other choice, the Scottish Tory Leader lacks credibility, looks weak and shares the blame for the damage done to people's mortgages, pensions and incomes.
"It's surely only a matter of time before his MSPs call his own position into question. The only way for him to regain any respect, would be to back SNP calls for a general election. He must admit it would be undemocratic to impose yet another Tory leader without voters getting a say.
"The constant crisis of Westminster control has shown Scotland needs independence to ensure we never again get Prime Ministers and governments we don't vote for."
It comes as recent polls from YouGov and Savanta ComRes show the SNP could wipe the Tories out in Scotland at a general election as the main challenger in every sitting Tory seat.
Alongside the U-turns Ross performed during Truss’s brief tenure, he was also heavily criticised for flip-flopping over Boris Johnson.
Ross resigned from Johnson’s government in 2020 when the then-PM refused to sack Dominic Cummings for breaking lockdown rules. He then called for Johnson’s resignation amid the partygate scandal, but then went back on it saying he supported his leader’s actions in Ukraine.
