DOUGLAS Ross would have voted against same-sex marriage if he had been in the Scottish Parliament in 2014.
At the time, Ross was a councillor in Moray but told a local paper that he would personally have voted against the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill.
The comments from the now Scottish Tory leader were unearthed in a story on The Northern Scot by the Daily Record.
Following the bill's passing in 2014, Ross told The Northern Scot that it was a “momentous achievement”, but added: “We should also recognise the hundreds of thousands of people who oppose this legislation.”
READ MORE: Douglas Ross refuses to set out democratic path to Scottish independence
The paper’s report also quoted Ross as saying: "We need to recognise both sides of the argument, and both put their arguments across very well.”
A total of 15 MSPs did vote against the bill, with the majority of those coming from the Conservative party.
Among the eight Tories that voted against the bill are current MSPs Murdo Fraser, Liz Smith, and Margaret Mitchell.
Labour MSP Elaine Smith and six SNP MSPs, including Cabinet Secretaries Roseanna Cunningham and Fergus Ewing, also voted against the bill.
The bill passed the Scottish Parliament by 98 votes to 15, with five abstentions.
Ruth Davidson, the former Scottish Tory leader who agreed to lead the party's Holyrood group under Ross, said that after the bill passed she “cried deep sobbing tears of relief and release and joy and pain and pride and dozens of other emotions”.
READ MORE: Douglas Ross dodges questions on Tory 'sleaze' at Westminster
In July 2019, Ross, the MP for Moray, voted against allowing same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland.
The Stormont Assembly had not yet been formally convened following the 2017 elections as parties had failed to come to a coalition agreement. As such, Westminster was legislating in its place.
That motion passed by 382 votes to 72.
Ross said afterwards that he had voted against same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland because he believed "these are decisions for elected politicians in Northern Ireland to determine and I hope we can see the re-establishment of the Assembly to focus on these crucial issues affecting people in Northern Ireland".
Asked to comment on what Ross had said in 2014, a Scottish Tory spokesperson told the Record: “At the time, Douglas hailed this bill as a ‘momentous achievement’. However, he also sought to put across the views of many of his constituents, who were not supportive of this legislation, just as several current SNP ministers did not vote for it.
“He is fully supportive now of same-sex marriage.”
Labour MP Ian Murray said the fact that Ross would have voted against the same-sex marriage bill “shows just how out of touch he is”.
Murray added: “The people of Scotland deserve a leader of the opposition that is living in the 21st century, not the 19th.”
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