RUTH Davidson will be given a place in the UK Government after she steps down from Holyrood to sit in the House of Lords, an SNP MP has said.
Pete Wishart made the comment on Twitter after seeing Michael Gove’s appearance on Scotland Tonight on Monday.
Wishart said Gove had “more or less” confirmed that Davidson would be given a place in the Tories’ London Government during his interview with the STV programme.
The SNP MP told The National it would be Davidson’s “final parting insult” to Scotland.
Speaking to Scotland Tonight’s Colin Mackay, Gove was asked about the Scottish Conservatives’ aims in the upcoming Holyrood election.
Is the upcoming Holyrood election a 2-horse race?
— ScotlandTonight (@ScotlandTonight) March 15, 2021
UK Cabinet Minister @michaelgove says he believes it is and that @ScotTories leader @Douglas4Moray could be Scotland's next First Minister.
Tune in for the full interview with @STVColin on #scotnight at 10:40pm pic.twitter.com/CWaPa87koC
The Cabinet Office minister denied the party were solely looking to prevent an SNP majority, instead saying he believed it was a “two horse race” between Nicola Sturgeon and Douglas Ross and that it was too soon to call the result.
Gove went on to claim that Ross is the “perfect person to cut Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP down to size, hold them effectively to account, and, if we possibly can, win and make sure that Douglas is first minister”.
Asked if he had been saying the same about Ruth Davidson ahead of the 2016 election, Gove said: “Ruth is a fantastic person and she has been a huge asset not just for the Conservatives but for Scotland, a powerful and effective voice. Of course, she and Douglas, as the Prime Minister reminded us yesterday, are a dynamic duo.”
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STV’s Mackay pointed out that, with Davidson becoming a Baroness, “she’s not going to be part of the team after the election”.
Gove replied: “Well, the key thing is … yes, the first thing is we’ve got a very strong team of Conservative candidates going into the Scottish parliament, people like Douglas Lumsden, Stephen Kerr in the central belt, Finlay Carson in the south west, a huge array of talent in the Scottish parliament.
“But Scotland has two governments, Scotland has two parliaments, and it’s important that we have talent in Westminster and in Holyrood and that they work together. That’s what I’m here to do, to make sure that those people work together.”
Wishart, the SNP’s longest serving MP, took Gove’s comments to mean that Davidson will be given a role in the UK Government.
There you go. @michaelgove more or less saying that @RuthDavidsonMSP will be in the UK Government on #scotnight. Giving up elected politics for an unelected role in Government. Scotland should be appalled.
— Pete Wishart (@PeteWishart) March 15, 2021
Wishart tweeted: “There you go. @michaelgove more or less saying that @RuthDavidsonMSP will be in the UK Government on [Scotland Tonight]. Giving up elected politics for an unelected role in Government. Scotland should be appalled.”
He later told The National: “It would be totally unacceptable for Ruth Davidson to give up democratic politics to secure an unelected place in Government from the House of Lords that would have any responsibility over Scotland. From her place in the Lords there will be no opportunity for the Scottish people to have any say on her appointment or relieve her of that position.
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“It would be the final parting insult to a nation which has consistently rejected her and the Scottish Tories. It would demonstrate their total contempt for Scottish democracy.”
Boris Johnson recently appointed the former chief Brexit negotiator David Frost to the House of Lords, and then gave him a newly created role in the Cabinet.
Frost, who has never been democratically elected to any role, will manage the relationship between the EU and the UK going forward.
Other peers in Boris Johnson’s Government include health minister James Bethell. Bethell gained his seat in the House of Lords due to his family heritage, and has also never won a democratic election.
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