DOUGLAS Ross has responded to Nicola Sturgeon's invitation to visit some of Scotland's working-class communities in order to see who is more “out of touch”.
The two leaders have been involved in a dispute over who better represents the working people of Scotland after Ross attacked the SNP in a speech he gave at a Tory conference fringe event.
In that speech, the Scottish Tory said his party represents the values of a working-class left behind by the SNP and Labour.
But the First Minister later hit back, saying the “facts and reality” would speak for themselves.
She went on: “[The Tories] are about to take food out of the mouths of children across working-class communities the length and breadth of Scotland, including in Douglas Ross’s own constituency. And they have the nerve to make comments like this.
“Maybe Douglas Ross would like to come with me, and I’ll introduce him to some working-class communities across the country and then he will see who’s in touch with them and who’s horribly out of touch with them because the Tories, like him, are doing so much damage every day right now.”
The Conservative government will imminently take £20 per week from the pockets of the most disadvantaged people in the UK with their cut to Universal Credit - a cut which Ross’s Scottish Tories have supported.
However, the Scottish Tory leader seems to have taken Sturgeon up on her offer.
In a reply posted on Twitter, Ross said that he would visit working-class communities with the First Minister, but “only if we go to one of the communities devastated by the drug deaths crisis - all because you took your eye off the ball”.
“We could start with your own constituency,” he added.
Only if we go to one of the communities devastated by the drug deaths crisis - all because you took your eye off the ball.
— Douglas Ross MP MSP (@Douglas4Moray) October 4, 2021
We could start with your own constituency. https://t.co/aEyLKTm5rb
Sturgeon said that her government had taken their "eye off the ball" on drugs deaths in the run-up to the Holyrood election in May.
Measures taken by the Scottish Government since then to try and mitigate the crisis include the introduction of warnings for those carrying small amounts of Class A drugs.
However, the Scottish Tories have been scathing of this measure, saying it amounts to "decriminalisation" - a characterisation the Lord Advocate has openly rejected.
Ross separately added: “Name the time and place. I’ll go with Nicola Sturgeon to one of the working-class communities devastated by the drug death crisis that has spiralled out of control on her watch.
“We could start with her own constituency, where she let a rehab centre close in 2019.
“Nicola Sturgeon took her eye off the ball on the national shame of drug deaths and abandoned working class communities.
“I’m proud of my working-class background and I’d never abandon the communities I grew up in the way that Nicola Sturgeon is doing."
On Monday, he sent the First Minister a letter outlining the same points.
The SNP have been approached for comment.
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