DOUGLAS Ross attempted to dodge blame for last year’s unprecedented Westminster chaos saying he and the Scottish Conservatives “were not involved”.
In his first speech of the new year, the Scottish Tory leader tried to paint all other opposition parties in the Scottish Parliament as being in cahoots with the SNP – positioning his party as the only one to stand up against the “cosy Holyrood consensus”.
Speaking in Edinburgh on Friday, Ross admitted his branch of the party had “more often than not” been caught “on the backfoot because of events we were not involved with”.
He said: “It will be no surprise for any of you to hear that I’m really happy to put 2022 behind me.
“There’s no getting away from it, last year was difficult for the Conservative Party across the United Kingdom.
“To be frank, we didn’t live up to expectations. So our focus, both as a UK and a Scottish party, must now be on working hard to re-earn trust.
“I know we face a tough challenge to do that.”
The Scottish Tory leader made a number of embarrassing U-turns last year, including calling for Boris Johnson to go over the Partygate scandal in early 2022 before reversing his position in light of the Ukraine war – and demanding the Scottish Government back Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget before welcoming it being scrapped by the UK’s shortest-ever serving prime minister.
He also faced plotters within his own Scottish branch – which may reemerge in the new year – and an exodus of backroom staff.
But he insisted he was “optimistic” his party would perform well north of the Border at the next General Election – despite most polls putting the Tories on course for an electoral wipe-out across the UK and in Scotland.
He said: “I’m very optimistic about how the Scottish Conservatives will do at the next General Election, there is a very clear dividing line I think it will be very obvious here today, there’s the opportunity for people, if they want to, to back Nicola Sturgeon and support her party and the other parties that support her.
“Labour and the LibDems provide no opposition to Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP. So if you don’t support the nationalists and Nicola Sturgeon the only party you can vote for at the next election is the Scottish Conservatives because we’re the only party that is offering that alternative vision for Scotland – no one else is doing that.”
In his speech, Ross attempted to portray Holyrood’s opposition parties as being “cosy” with the SNP and Greens government.
He added: “Right across our nation, there are so many people crying out for the end of Nicola Sturgeon and this SNP government.
“They see failure stacked on top of failure, stacked on top of failure and question how any government can survive it.
“Yet they have been let down by so-called opposition parties who talk tough during an election but then work with the SNP government and vote for their laws, however flawed and damaged.
“Parties like Labour, who are more comfortable going along with the cosy Holyrood consensus than taking a stand against Nicola Sturgeon’s nationalist administration.”
He pointed to Labour’s support for the government’s Gender Recognition Reform Act and the rent freeze legislation last year as evidence of this.
