TORY MSP Sandesh Gulhane will look to win a Westminster seat after being selected as his party’s candidate in a marginal constituency.
Gulhane said he was "delighted" to be chosen to contest the East Renfrewshire seat, but the SNP said it only showed the "lack of respect" the Conservatives have for the Scottish Parliament.
Gulhane – who represents the Glasgow region at Holyrood – was elected in 2021 and is the second Tory MSP looking to run for Westminster, after Stephen Kerr was chosen to fight North Tayside earlier this year.
Unlike the SNP and Labour – who have tightened rules to make it harder for elected politicians to switch between London and Edinburgh – the Scottish Tories have long allowed MSPs to stand in General Elections.
Scottish Tory group leader Douglas Ross was elected MP for Moray in 2017 and then as an MSP for the Highlands and Islands in 2021.
SNP MSP Kaukab Stewart said: “It's little surprise that yet another Tory MSP wants to abandon Holyrood without a second thought – all for a chance to get closer to their dream of sitting behind their real bosses in Westminster.
"This move just underlines the lack of respect Tories have for The Scottish Parliament and how little they really think of Douglas Ross’ hapless leadership.
“It’s clear that the Tories are going nowhere at Holyrood and even their frontbenchers know it as they desperately seek escape routes."
East Renfrewshire was held by Labour from 1997 until 2015 when the seat was won by the SNP’s Kirsten Oswald amid a landslide victory for the party across Scotland.
She then lost out at the 2017 General Election to Paul Masterton of the Tories, but Oswald got the seat back again in 2019.
Gulhane, who is a practising GP, said: "I was delighted to be selected by local members to stand in East Renfrewshire at the General Election and I am going to fight hard on their behalf to win the seat back from the SNP.
“The people of East Renfrewshire want, and deserve, an MP focused on their real priorities – like the global cost-of-living crisis and public services – rather than one obsessed with pushing for another divisive independence referendum.
"As a practising NHS GP, I understand the priorities of local people and I have a proven track record of working hard on the issues that matter to them.
"In the Scottish Parliament, I have held the SNP-Green Government to account over its shambolic management of our NHS, which people across Scotland rely on every day.”
