Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross has claimed the “optics” of the chaos surrounding Liz Truss’ Government are “awful”. Ross said the Tory Government would “deal” with bread and butter issues like mortgages, weeks after Truss and her colleagues tanked the UK economy.
Truss’ premiership hangs by a thread after a day of unprecedented turmoil within her party at Westminster. Tory MPs are openly calling on her to quit just two months into becoming Prime Minister after a catalogue of blunders.
Her colleagues believe her authority has been fatally undermined after she shredded her own Government’s mini-budget due to a hostile reaction from the markets. Kwasi Kwarteng was fired as chancellor and Suella Braverman also left Government yesterday, fuelling the chaos. Sources believe Truss could be gone over the weekend.
Ross, who is also facing criticism over his performance, was challenged about the mayhem outside Westminster by the BBC. The dual MP and MSP, who was wearing gym gear, was quizzed on whether he was concerned about what is going on.
He replied: “Yes, of course. I mean, the whole optics of this is awful. People are worried about their bills, are worried about their mortgages and they expect the government to deal with these issues, and that's what I know the Conservative Government will be focusing on when we come back here next week.”
Criticism of Ross has mounted since he twice changed his position on whether Boris Johnson should quit over the summer. He also faced flak for supporting the Truss Government’s disastrous mini-budget that was later shredded.
His party’s poll ratings have slumped in the wake of Tory chaos at Westminster, leading to fears of a 1997-style wipeout at the general election. Ross recently responded to reports of two plots to get rid of him by saying he would toast the new year with a whisky if he made it until then.
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