DOUGLAS Ross has insisted he will not step down as Scottish Tory leader if the party sinks to third place in the upcoming council elections.
The head of the Scottish Conservatives claims he will remain in post even if voters desert the party in May.
Ross is facing growing scrutiny over his position after he flip-flopped on the question of whether Boris Johnson should resign for breaking Covid rules and lying to parliament.
READ MORE: Most Tory voters believe Boris Johnson has lied to Parliament on partygate
Polls suggest the party will be preparing for a reckoning after May 5 with one showing the party losing the second place spot to Labour.
Douglas Ross boards a plane at Leading Edge Flight Training School near Glasgow Airport today/Gordon Terris
But Ross told The Herald during a campaign visit near Glasgow on Tuesday, he would cling on regardless.
He said: “No, and I am absolutely determined to get a good result for the Scottish Conservatives.
“We saw in the run up to the Holyrood election last year, a number of polls predicted that the Conservatives would go into third place and actually the opposite happened.
READ MORE: Douglas Ross claims SNP are 'beatable' in elections despite stark poll results
"We maintained second place, increased our votes by over 100,000 and at the same time Labour went backwards under Anas Sarwar and got their worst ever result in Scotland. They lost seats and they lost votes.
"So I am very committed to ensuring that we deliver a really strong result in just over a week's time, because we have got some outstanding candidates and some outstanding councillors who had made a real impact of their local areas."
And he insisted the partygate scandal – which has seen the Prime Minister, his wife and the Chancellor all fined for breaking lockdown rules – will not harm the Tories’ chances heading into the vote.
He said voters would “decide for themselves”.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel