Douglas Ross will not resign as Scottish Tory leader if his party comes third behind Labour in the Holyrood election as the latest polls predict.
The Scottish Conservative leader gave a straight “no” answer to whether he would step down as leader if the Tories lose out their tag of largest opposition party.
Instead he claimed there were “no limits on my ambitions” to replace Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister as he kicked off the party’s six-week election campaign.
The Moray MP revealed that he will forego his £64,470 salary as a list MSP at Holyrood while he maintains his dual mandate in both Westminster and the Scottish parliament.
Ross said: “How much will I trouser? Absolutely not a single penny.
"The entirety of my MSP salary will not be taken by me, I’ll look at ways to set up a charity as has been done in the past but I will not benefit financially at all from being both an MP and an MSP.”
“For me it was never about that. It is about continuing to represent the constituents who elected me in 2019 and representing the Highlands and Islands in the Scottish Parliament and leading the Scottish Conservatives.”
Ross insisted that he could hold down both jobs as other politicians, including Alex Salmond, had done in the past. While he held a dual-mandate Salmond donated one of the salaries to support youth causes in the North East of Scotland.
Ross said that he would carry on as Tory leader, even if the party fell in the electoral rankings.
He said: “People can see that the SNP are aided in votes in parliament by the Scottish Labour Party, either voting with them, or sitting in their hands because Anas Sarwar is not leading a strong opposition party.
“People are we looking for a clear choice in this election, a choice between supporting the SNP and their plans for another referendum, or supporting the Scottish Conservatives which will stop that divisive move for another referendum and allow us to focus on recovery.”
The Tory leader also revealed one of the secrets of his campaign strategy to give the SNP a close shave in May.
Questioned on how he managed to have the neatest hair in Scotland during lockdown, Ross replied: “I think it looks good from the front but I am particularly worried about how it looks from the back because I’m cutting it myself with clippers I bought during this pandemic.”
