I READ with amazement the response from the Conservative party to the deplorable remarks made by Douglas Ross about the travelling community. The spokesperson described them as “historic accusations” and “false”. The remarks were made within the last ten years, which by no stretch of anyone’s imagination can be called historic. They are recent.
READ MORE: Comments unearthed from Douglas Ross's 'long battle' with Traveller communities
Nor are they “accusations.” They are revelations which show a side of the Conservative party leader that the party might prefer to remain hidden. Finally, they are not false. The evidence of their truth is in Ross’s quote given at the time, in 2013, to the newspaper The Northern Scot. Nor has Ross ever disputed his comment as a newly elected MP in 2017 that, if he were Prime Minister for a day, his priority would be to tackle the problem of travelling community.
It is all too typical of the Scottish Tories, when faced with an inconvenient truth, not to respond except to attack the criticism. Nevertheless, for their spokesman to utter three falsehoods in a sentence of five words must set a record.
Gavin Brown
Linlithgow
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