DOUGLAS Ross has refused to say if he will give up his third job as a football referee despite further revelations about his finances.
The Scottish Tory leader was quizzed on the BBC Sunday Show about whether it was time for him to stop running the line at football matches, but he said it was “something I enjoy doing”.
We told how the Scottish Tories failed to clarify how many hours Ross works as an MSP, with records stating it was around 160 hours a month, the equivalent of a full time job, despite his other obligations.
It comes as the Sunday Mail reports that Ross claimed taxpayer-funded expenses on a day he failed to declare earnings for his moonlighting as a linesman.
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Last week, Ross was exposed for not declaring £7000 worth of earnings from 16 games and has now been forced to apologise for forgetting to register a 17th game where he was paid £445.
The MP and MSP did however remember to claim for almost £93 on the same day through his MP expenses.
The SNP have called on Ross to give a full explanation and said the revelations “adds to the stench of Tory sleaze”.
The Tory leader was not asked about the revelations in either The Sunday National or The Sunday Mail during his appearance on BBC radio on Sunday morning.
Ross in his role as linesman at Celtic Park in Glasgow in September 2020
However, BBC journalist Martin Geissler did ask Ross if it was time for him to give up running the line due to his two other jobs as a parliamentarian.
An indignant Ross responded: “I’ve done one game since January, so while I’ve been an MP and an MSP it has not been something I have been practicising, but it is something that I enjoy doing.
“And MPs, MSPs and councillors, politicians, are allowed a life outside of politics and I think if we do away with that then that’s a greater risk in encouraging people to come forward for elected office.”
Ross was also probed twice on why he didn’t declare the earnings, at first saying it was a mistake he “held his hands up to” and it should have been declared.
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Asked a second time why he didn’t declare them, Ross said: “Because I genuinely thought because the money was going directly to local charities then that wasn’t necessary, but that’s wrong, that should have been done.
“I should have checked and I’ve updated it since then.”
SNP MSP Neil Gray said: “Douglas Ross apparently ‘forgets’ to declare thousands of pounds he gets from being a linesman – but has no problem remembering to claim parliamentary expenses, even on days he was a linesman.
“If this had been someone on Universal Credit they would have been sanctioned.”
Gray (pictured) added that the latest revelations raise “very uncomfortable questions” for the Tory leader.
He said: “He [Ross] clearly has some detailed explaining to do – and his abject failure to clear this up a week on from the first revelations about his undeclared earnings just adds to the stench of Tory sleaze.
"The longer this goes on, the weaker his position becomes and the more the Scottish Tories must be wondering how long they can continue to put up with him as leader.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Tories said: “Douglas has made the register of interests aware of this payment and has apologised for this error.
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“A member of Douglas’s office is responsible for handling his expenses and they properly registered all claims as required by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.
"His football payments were handled by Douglas personally, not his office, since they are an outside interest, and he has held his hands up for making mistakes in declaring them.”
The Scottish Tories were asked again if Ross would resign from his linesman role, but did not respond to the question.
The second jobs of MPs have been under scrutiny after the scandal over former Tory minister Owen Paterson, who was found to have broken lobbying rules.
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