In recent days, pressure has been growing on Downing Street to take action following stories in the press and media revealing trips made during lockdown by Dominic Cummings. The Prime Minister’s special advisor insisted yesterday that no rules had been broken when he travelled to Durham with his family while suffering Coronavirus symptoms.
Today, the pressure has increased with the resignation of Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Scotland, Douglas Ross. Ross is seen as a supporter of Boris Johnson and his resignation is therefore a blow. In a statement, Douglas Ross said: “I have constituents who didn’t get to say goodbye to loved ones; families who could not mourn together; people who didn’t visit sick relatives because they followed the guidance of the government. I cannot in good faith tell them they were all wrong and one senior adviser to the government was right.”
Ross is the member of parliament for Moray in north east Scotland. He has represented the constituency since defeating the SNP’s Angus Robertson at the 2017 General Election. Prior to this he was a Member of the Scottish Parliament for Highland and Islands from 2016 to 2017. He was appointed Junior Minister at the Scottish Office, the role he has today resigned from, after the Conservative general election victory in December 2019.
The Moray constituency is the Conservative’s most marginal seat in Scotland. Douglas Ross has a majority of just 513 votes. His resignation perhaps indicates a concern among Conservative MPs that the Dominic Cummings story is having a real impact on public opinion. Those with slim majorities may be fearing how this will play out at the ballot box.
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