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Who is Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross? – BBC News
Douglas Ross: The basics
Education: Alves Primary, Forres Academy and the Scottish Agricultural College
Family: Married to Krystle, a police officer, the couple have two sons
Parliamentary constituency: MSP for the Highlands and Islands region in the Scottish Parliament, and standing for Westminster too
Who is he?
Douglas Ross was brought up in Moray.
He attended Alves Primary, Forres Academy and then the Scottish Agricultural College.
After college, he worked as dairyman on farms in the area.
He has a side hustle as a qualified football referee, and has acted as a linesman in many high-profile fixtures in Scotland and beyond.
He has run the line in Scottish Cup finals and Champions League matches, although this prompted criticism when it clashed with his parliamentary responsibilities.
He ultimately accepted that he should not accept refereeing appointments while parliament was sitting.
What was his route to power?
But as a Conservative, he has represented his local area since 2007, when he was first elected to Moray Council.
He stood for the Conservatives in a series of elections for Westminster and Holyrood, eventually becoming an MSP via the Highlands and Islands regional list in 2016.
But he left Holyrood to become an MP the following year, taking the Moray constituency from the SNP’s deputy leader Angus Robertson in the general election.
In August 2020, he became leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.
He returned to Holyrood the following year in the Scottish Parliament election.
The same year, he said he would step down as an MP at the next general election, with his former Moray constituency broken up under boundary changes anyway.
During the current election campaign, he announced he would step down after polling day.
It came after he was controversially selected to stand for the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East seat instead of David Duguid, who has been ill and was effectively de-selected.
What are his key pledges?
Douglas Ross has promised that his party will be “laser-focused” on the public’s priorities.
The Scottish Conservatives also want to:
- Deliver faster access to GP and hospital appointments
- Improve Scotland’s education system by increasing subject choice, reducing class sizes and backing traditional exams
- Put extra police officers onto Scotland’s streets
- Lower the tax bill for Scottish workers and businesses
What state are the Scottish Conservatives in?
The Conservatives are at a relative high point in Scottish politics, having overtaken Labour into second place at Holyrood in 2016 and retained that position in 2021.
They also have more seats at Westminster, having benefited from the prominence of the constitutional debate in the aftermath of the 2014 independence referendum.
The Tories successfully corralled the unionist vote as the SNP swept up pro-independence ones, crafting a distinct image from that of the UK-wide party.
It’s quite a turnaround from where they were in 1997, when they were completely wiped out north of the border by Tony Blair’s New Labour landslide.
But there is a question about how well the Scottish Tories can hold their position if independence is not the key issue in the coming election, and they can’t continue to avoid talking about things like Liz Truss and Brexit.
Read the profiles of other Scottish party leaders here:
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