DOUGLAS Ross is “guilty of stunning hypocrisy” after failing to declare thousands of pounds in outside earnings over the past five years, the SNP have said.
On Saturday, it emerged that the Scottish Tory leader had referred himself to Westminster authorities after failing to declare more than £28,000 in salaries.
And on Sunday, it emerged that Ross had also broken the rules by failing to declare income from 26 football games where he refereed.
In total, the Tory MP and MSP has failed to declare outside earnings from at least 42 football matches since 2017.
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The SNP have said Ross is quick to demand the resignation of others for rule breaking, and called him a “repeat offender”.
It comes as a petition calling for Ross to resign his role as an MP reached 9000 signatures, and cast doubt on the MP’s claims he “forgot” to declare the income - which is higher than the annual salary of the majority of Scots.
An investigation by The Herald originally revealed that Ross helped referee 16 footbal matches between October and January 2021, where he made almost £7000, but did not record the income in the House of Commons register of interest.
He also failed to declare his £21,000 salary as a Holyrood list MSP.
Ross has been accused of 'stunning hypocrisy' over the revelations he failed to declare income
Ross later claimed that he “doesn’t know why” he didn’t declare the salaries in an interview with BBC’s Good Morning Scotland.
He blamed the undeclared cash on an “extremely bad” error which he said was his own fault and said he is now actively working with parliamentary authorities and that he is “extremely sorry”.
However, it then emerged in the Sunday Mail the next day that Ross had also failed to properly declare football earnings from another 26 games since he became an MP.
This is on top of his £82,000 Westminster salary and the cash he makes through linesman duties. Ross has vowed to give his MSP monthly salary to charity.
Ross missed the 28-day deadline to inform Commons authorities about payments from other jobs, in over one in four games he has worked as an assistant referee since 2017.
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Kirsten Oswald MP, SNP Westminster deputy leader, said: "Douglas Ross is guilty of stunning hypocrisy after being caught red-handed breaking the rules over outside earnings on dozens of occasions. This can't be explained away as a one-off error, now it's clear the Scottish Tory leader is a repeat offender.
"Mr Ross is always quick to demand that others resign for rule-breaking, even when they haven't, but he now seems strangely reluctant to follow his own advice.
“As always with the Tories, it seems to be one rule for them and another for everyone else.
The Scottish Tory leader did not declare earnings from at least 42 football matches since 2017
"People will find it staggering that Mr Ross has voted to slash the incomes of the poorest in society through Universal Credit and other Tory cuts, while making thousands of pounds on the side and failing to declare it.
"It's hard to see how Douglas Ross can continue in his role when he's blown all credibility. It is surely only a matter of time before the Scottish Tories ditch him and look for a new leader."
A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: “Douglas Ross recognised this error and held his hands up and apologised for not registering these payments on time.
“Since realising his mistake last week, he contacted the Office of the Register of Interests to make them fully aware of the situation.
“All the payments have now been declared, including those from his MSP salary, which he donates to charities.”
The spokesman did not respond to our enquiry which asked if Ross would be resigning over the revelations.
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We revealed how Scottish Tory MSPs are earnings thousands of pounds from second jobs outside Holyrood.
At the start of this month seven Scottish Tory MSPs had second jobs, with a grand total of £325,500 expected to be earned between them.
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