BORIS Johnson will be too busy to visit Scotland before the Holyrood election, Douglas Ross has suggested.
The Scottish Tory leader also cited coronavirus restrictions as a reason for the Prime Minister’s absence, despite the fact he came north in February to visit vaccination centres.
The SNP rubbished the "nonsense" claims and said Johnson is too "toxic" to be included in the Scottish Tories' campaign push.
Ross was also condemned for insisting Downing Street should reject indyref2 regardless of the election result.
The Prime Minister previously said “wild horses won’t keep me away” from Scotland. But Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Ross threw yet more cold water on suggestions his Westminster boss will make an appearance.
READ MORE: Douglas Ross says Boris Johnson is NOT coming to Scotland
The Moray MP said: “I'm not sure if he's going to come up to Scotland in this campaign. He had hoped to come up, and I thought he may come up but given the pandemic and the restrictions to campaigning, I'm not sure that's likely.”
When it was pointed out that Johnson had managed to travel north in February, despite even stricter restrictions being in place at the time, Ross responded: “He came up specifically in February to thank our vaccinators here.”
The Prime Minister had, until this morning, been planning to visit India despite the country facing one of the world's worst coronavirus surges for several weeks.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson cancels trip to India as coronavirus cases surge
The Scottish Tory leader added: “He’s also leading the UK effort against a global pandemic and I think people understand in this more strange election campaign, in terms of the restrictions that we’ve all got to deal with, that it may not be that easy for the Prime Minister to come up.”
That assertion was laughed off by the BBC Radio 4 presenter, who pointed out the UK leaders of Labour and the LibDems had both visited Scotland ahead of next month’s election.
Ross commented: “I think people would understand that the leader of the opposition and the leader of the Liberal Democrats at UK level do not have the same pressures as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who is dealing with the roll-out of this pandemic.”
He was then asked directly if he wants Johnson to visit. “I've said, you know, I welcomed the Prime Minister to my own constituency. He came up a number of times,” the Scottish Tory leader replied.
“I want to ensure that he continues his effort to handle the pandemic south of the Border. If it was possible for him to come up north of the Border in that time, that would be great, but I'm not putting any pressure on it.”
READ MORE: Tories 'running scared' of Scottish voters as Johnson looks set to avoid campaign
The Moray MP was probed on whether he doesn't want the Prime Minister to visit because it would be "the worst possible thing for your party because it would put people off possibly more than they are already".
He replied: “As I've just said, people can see the success of the decisions taken by the Prime Minister and his government to protect jobs with the furlough scheme, to invest in the vaccination roll-out and they see that as a real positive of being part of the United Kingdom. But the Prime Minister also understands I'm leading the party up here. It's my manifesto it’s my team and I spoke with him last night and he's very supportive of what we're doing.”
Quizzed on what was discussed during the call, Ross said it was a “general update” and that Johnson had not pledged to come to Scotland.
SNP depute leader Keith Brown told The National: "Surely Douglas Ross doesn't even believe his own nonsense as he bends over backwards to defend his boss Boris Johnson.
"The reason the Prime Minister does not want to come to Scotland is because even the Tories know how much of a toxic brand he is in Scotland and are embarrassed to bring him here.
"Boris Johnson is running scared of accountability and democracy and does not want to come to Scotland because he knows it would only see his party's ratings plunge even further.”
The Scottish Tory leader also denied a pro-independence Scottish Government would have a “moral case” to hold indyref2 if they win a majority in the election – and said Johnson should rejected a plebiscite regardless of the result.
He stated: “I think when Nicola Sturgeon says it would be a dereliction of duty for her not, as First Minister, to hold another independence referendum, really grates with people in Scotland.”
Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater commented: “Douglas Ross seems confused. He says only a vote for the Tories will deny Scots a say over our future, but then asserts that even if we vote in a pro-independence majority, his boss will just say no anyway. Not only is that categorically undemocratic, but I don't see the Scottish Conservatives coming forward with any positive vision for Scotland's future, no transformational changes proposed, only more powers lost to Westminster, less of a say in how our country operates and more austerity and cruelty to refugees.
“We have the opportunity build a new Scotland as we recover from the pandemic, to be at the start of a better nation. The Scottish Greens have costed plans to create 100,000 jobs in renewable energy, restoring nature, warm homes and public transport, policies which also tackle the climate emergency. We will deliver a new referendum allowing the people of Scotland to choose their future. That’s why we are asking people to vote like our future depends on it.”
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