Scottish Tory leader refuses to call on Prime Minister to resign

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has refused to call on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign due to the crisis in Ukraine.

Ross had previously called on Johnson to resign over the Downing Street parties scandal, insisting his position was "no longer tenable". However, Ross withdrew those calls after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying “the middle of an international crisis is not the time to be discussing resignations”.

Now, after Downing Street confirmed both Johnson and Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, will receive fixed penalty notices for breaking the laws their government set during the pandemic, Ross has doubled down on his stance.

Ross said: "The public are rightly furious at what happened in Downing Street during the pandemic. I understand why they are angry and share their fury. The behaviour was unacceptable. The Prime Minister now needs to respond to these fines being issued.

"However, as I've made very clear, in the middle of war in Europe, when Vladimir Putin is committing war crimes and the UK is Ukraine's biggest ally, as President Zelensky said at the weekend, it wouldn't be right to remove the Prime Minister at this time.

“It would destabilise the UK Government when we need to be united in the face of Russian aggression and the murdering of innocent Ukrainians."

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack also gave the prime minister his backing, saying: "He remains the right person to lead this country at such a crucial time and we need to get behind him so that he can focus on dealing with the appalling situation in Ukraine and on delivering for everyone in this country."

However, former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson re-iterated her call for the PM to resign.

"He broke the rules he imposed on the country and lost the moral authority to lead. He should go," she tweeted.