Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Douglas Ross says potential Conservative leadership rivals should step up or own anonymous comments

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross has said Conservative-run councils won't introduce the Workplace Parking Levy
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross.

Douglas Ross has told potential leadership rivals to own their anonymous comments against him, or try his role themselves.

The Scottish Conservatives leader acknowledged reports of MPs or MSPs within his party criticising him anonymously.

Speaking on BBC’s Good Morning Scotland, the Moray MP said anyone with their own leadership ambitions should come out of the shadows.

He said: “If anyone else wants to do that they can get up and do the early morning GMS interviews as well.”

He added: “If these anonymous sources want to put their name to it then I’ll happily go and speak to them.”

Though Mr Ross said he has ideas about the origin of the anonymous voices, he did not divulge them.

Instead, he backed himself for owning his own words, adding: “I have never and will never make anonymous comments, if I’ve got something to say I’ll always put my name to it.”

Mr Ross was grilled on the mini-budget u-turn, mortgage rates and tax cuts during the interview.

When asked if he thought he would maintain his place in the party, he said: “I will survive.”

Defending the reported u-turn

Following the UK Government’s mini budget u-turn – where Kwasi Kwarteng reversed his controversial plans to abolish the 45p tax rate for the richest – the Moray MP was criticised for defending the plan then backing its abolishment.

Mr Ross faced similar accusations earlier in the year when he was said to be flip-flopping over Boris Johnson’s lockdown parties scandal.

Douglas Ross has previously been criticised about changing his position on whether Boris Johnson should resign.

Presenter Martin Geissler said on Tuesday it was “not even two weeks since [Mr Ross] implored the Scottish Government to scrap that rate of tax as well, saying it would turbo charge the economy”.

In response, Mr Ross said he was referring to the fact 2.4 million Scots would benefit from tax cuts.

“Tax cuts that were announced in the mini budget would benefit, if implemented in Scotland, 2.4 milion taxpayers,” he said.

“If the Scottish Government does nothing, 2.4 million taxpayers in Scotland will pay more in taxation north of the border than south of the border. The element that has changed in the budget affects approximately 20,000 people in Scotland.”

Supporting struggling families

When asked directly whether he agreed whether the chancellor was right to ditch the 45p tax rate, he said: “Yes, there were huge elements of the growth plan that were right, that were appropriate, that were the right course of action but where there was clearly concern the chancellor took that on board. He listened to people and he changed.”

Mr Ross said earlier in the interview: “These are extremely difficult times but we need to get together, to be united and to tackle these issues on behalf of local people, communities and businesses who are really struggling.”

He said the Conservative government “has been able to help” people who are struggling to pay their energy bills, and that focusing on economic growth would ultimately bring in “billions”.

Conversation