Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Douglas Ross criticises UK Government over ‘wrong’ Owen Paterson vote

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross criticised the botched handling of a Commons vote on the future of a party MP, as he welcomed a humiliating U-turn by the Government.

The Moray MP did not speak out publicly with his critical view before the crucial vote on Owen Paterson’s suspension on Wednesday afternoon.

Mr Ross avoided the controversial vote, in which four of his Scottish Tory colleagues sided with Boris Johnson.

In the wake of an embarrassing climbdown by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday, Mr Ross said the “right decision has now been reached”.

Mr Ross and his fellow Scottish Tory MPs had come under fire for failing to vote against a plan to save Mr Paterson from suspension by overhauling the entire system.

However, after the proposal sparked a furious backlash, Mr Johnson performed a U-turn and promised MPs a fresh vote on the former minister’s suspension for breaching of lobbying rules.

Mr Paterson subsequently announced his resignation as MP for North Shropshire on Thursday afternoon.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson

An investigation by Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone had previously found that Mr Paterson had repeatedly lobbied ministers and officials on behalf of two companies for which he was acting as a paid consultant – Randox, and Lynn’s Country Foods.

The Commons Standards Committee said his actions were an “egregious” breach of the rules on paid advocacy by MPs and recommended that he should be suspended for 30 sitting days.

How did they vote?

The committee’s recommendations are normally rubber-stamped by MPs, but on Wednesday, the Conservative government ordered its MPs to vote for an amendment to halt the case and set up a new structure to change the standards system.

It was carried by 18 votes, despite Labour, the SNP and Lib Dems voting against the proposals, along with 13 Conservative MPs.

Four of the six Scottish Conservative MPs voted for the amendment, with Mr Ross and Scottish Secretary Alister Jack failing to vote.

It should never have happened in the first place.

Douglas Ross

Mr Ross said: “This was the wrong decision. I made it clear I couldn’t support changing a process while a member was being investigated.

“I’m glad the right decision has now been reached, although it should never have happened in the first place.”

Owen Paterson MP.

John Lamont MP said: “Mr Paterson’s decision to resign is the right one.

“It was my intention to vote for his suspension next week.

“Given the widespread concerns about the process by which MPs are investigated and the lack of a fair appeals mechanism, it is correct that the whole process is now reviewed on a cross party basis.”

Conservative MPs expressed anger over the affair after they were ordered to back the controversial move that triggered a new sleaze row just a day before the U-turn.

The climbdown came shortly after Lord Evans, the chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, condemned the plans as being “deeply at odds with the best traditions of British democracy”.

Moments later, Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg announced ministers would seek “cross-party” changes to the system after acknowledging a “certain amount of controversy”.