A SCOTTISH Conservative MSP has announced he will not be seeking re-election – criticising his party in the process.
Edward Mountain, a regional MSP for the Highlands and Islands for nine years, said while it has been a "true honour" to serve in the Parliament, he would not be standing in the Holyrood 2026 election.
In his resignation letter to Scottish Tory chief Russell Findlay, Mountain took aim at Holyrood as well as the state of his own party.
"In 1979 when I started campaigning for the Conservatives, it was for a very different party to the one we are in today," he wrote. "I have welcomed many of the changes, but not all of them.
"I also have been saddened by the behaviour of some politicians from across all the parties. They have left me, and I suspect much of the electorate, cold and have given politics and conviction politicians a bad name."
Mountain, a millionaire whose full title is Sir Edward Brian Stanford Mountain, 4th Baronet, also took aim at pro-independence politicians in his resignation.
"Sadly in this Parliament I have found that all too often, many good ideas are discounted and shelved by those more interested in promoting the political differences and arguments for independence," he wrote.
"The result is that I constantly see good ideas, that could and would benefit Scotland, being thwarted. This is not only self-serving, but also holding Scotland back. The worst of it is that it does little to help the many people that look to the Parliament to make the real changes that would make their lives better."
It comes one day after Conservative Liz Smith announced she is stepping down after almost 20 years as an MSP, saying it is “time for new blood” at Holyrood.
Smith said she has the “opportunity to move on to other pursuits in public life”, after having represented the Mid Scotland and Fife region since 2007, in that time serving as her party’s education and finance spokeswoman.
Also on Wednesday, former journalist and SNP MSP Rona Mackay announced she wouldn't be standing in the 2026 election.
Mackay told constituents it felt "right to retire" after serving for almost 10 years.
