DOUGLAS Ross is under fire after it was revealed that he will be snubbing a Holyrood summit to attend a seminar on a sunny Caribbean island.
The ex-Scottish Tory leader will be logging into the Education Committee meeting on June 11th virtually from Turks and Caicos – which is near the Bahamas – despite being convener, The Daily Record first reported.
The seminar is apparently in relation to his work on the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
SNP ministers, including Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth, are set to appear on June 11.
It comes after Ross was ejected from the Holyrood chamber last week by the Presiding Officer after heckling the First Minister.
An SNP source said: "Throughout his time at Holyrood, Douglas Ross has treated his role as an MSP as a part-time gig to fit around his other jobs - including his various jaunts across Europe as an assistant referee.
"This has been a bit of an embarrassing week for Mr Ross after he was removed from the Chamber for his poor behaviour on Thursday. After his tirade of unjustified claims about other members' parliamentary attendance it is now somewhat ironic that Mr Ross will be logging in from near the Caribbean."
A Scottish Conservative spokesperson said: “Douglas will be attending this meeting and holding the SNP’s education secretary and her colleagues to account.”
The move to expel Ross angered his Tory colleagues, who said Alison Johnstone was regularly treating them unfairly.
The Scottish Conservatives said they would be “seeking discussions to reiterate that the Presiding Officer should not show blatant bias”.
But Swinney backed Johnstone, who was elected as a Green MSP, saying she “always acts impartially” and upholds the rules of the Scottish Parliament.
