DOUGLAS Ross is more responsible than anybody else for the “toxicity” of debate in the Scottish parliament, the First Minister has said.
In a devastating put-down of the outgoing Scottish Tory leader, John Swinney said he had “single-handedly” dragged down the level of the relationships between MSPs in the Holyrood parliament.
The comments came after Ross used an interview with The Daily Express to claim that SNP politicians such as Swinney or Nicola Sturgeon would “lie through their back teeth to get support”.
The Scots Tory leader, who will step down after the General Election, claimed the SNP had lied during the 2021 Holyrood campaign and were doing so again during the current Westminster one.
Swinney was asked for his response to the remarks during a visit to a Scottish Power training centre in Cumbernauld on Wednesday.
The SNP leader at first said Ross was “unworthy of a response”.
Pushed, he said: “I think it tells us all we need to know about Douglas Ross.
“Douglas Ross, single-handedly I think, has contributed more than anyone else to the toxicity of relationships in the Scottish Parliament.”
Speaking to the media, Swinney further took aim at the Conservatives after they levelled attacks on Keir Starmer for trying to allocate Friday evenings as down time with his family.
After the Labour leader made the innocuous remarks, the Tories have variously attacked him as a “part-time” politician while Cabinet ministers mocked him, suggesting he would refuse to go to work if there was an international crisis on a Friday evening.
Swinney defended his Labour counterpart, saying time spent with family or away from work was “crucial” to being an effective politician.
“I think this is just that this is probably one of the most disgusting things I've heard of the many disgusting things I've heard the Conservative Party going on about,” the First Minister said.
“I can only speak personally. I spend time with my family, I make time for my family. I don't have a rigid routine for that, but there are certain things that we do as a family which take our time.
“But – and my family can testify to this – if something happens, I've got to deal with it and I'm available to deal with it. I'm sure Keir Starmer would be available to deal with it.
“So, the Conservatives, this is just one of the many reasons why I just think they have lost a lot of sense of decency about what they're saying about people.”
Starmer previously told reporters at a campaign event in Derbyshire: “I do carve out Friday nights, as best I can, for Vic and the kids and her dad as protected time.
“Her dad’s side of the family is Jewish, as people will appreciate, and we use that for family prayers – not every Friday, but not infrequently.
“That doesn’t mean I’ve never had to work on a Friday, of course it doesn’t, plenty of times I haven’t been able to [have time off].
“But I’ve tried to protect that time. I’d like to try and protect it in the future but I know very well, it’s going to be really difficult to do it.”
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said on Twitter/X: “Virtually every military intervention we’ve carried out has happened at night, partly to keep our servicemen and women safe.
“The British people will wonder who would be standing in for Starmer between 6pm and 9am – Angela Rayner, David Lammy, Ed Miliband? Defending Britain’s security isn’t a daylight hours only job.”
