Born in 1946 and brought up in Cupar, Fife, I was educated at the local school - 
Douglas Ross must go further than just not refereeing while parliament is sitting and fulfil the promises made to his constituents that his “footballing and refereeing hobby won’t impact on [his] parliamentary duties”, the SNP has said today.
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The SNP has now called on Douglas Ross to honour his pre-election commitment and properly fulfil his duties as the constituency member of parliament for Moray.
Mr Ross will be running the line at the Hearts v Rangers match at Murrayfield tomorrow – likely requiring two days in Edinburgh when he should be in his constituency.
Since his election Mr Ross has courted further controversy after launching an attack on the Gypsy/Traveller community in his constituency.
Commenting, SNP MSP Stewart Stevenson said:
“This is an overdue but welcome first step, but it is still just not good enough from Douglas Ross.
“He continues to flout his pre-election pledge that his refereeing won’t impact on his parliamentary duties – he seems to be forgetting that his parliamentary duties don’t end when he leaves Westminster.
“He may well be hoping for sympathy that he doesn’t get a trip to the World Cup next year – but that step alone is not good enough, and he is mistaken if he thinks this puts the issue to bed.
“Mr Ross should be concentrating on his first job of representing his constituents not his second job of running the line. And yet again we see that tomorrow he is avoiding his constituency in order to officiate at Hearts v Rangers – it’s simply not sustainable for him to continue to short-change the people who elected him.
“Not only is his second job becoming untenable, but his first job is too – as he continues to break a promise made to his constituents. Just when will he be out and about in his constituency hearing about the big issues facing people there – like the universal credit rollout?
“It’s time for Douglas Ross to actually honour his pre-election commitment that his very well paid hobby won’t get in the way of his duties as an MP – otherwise it will be perfectly clear that his constituents have been conned.”
“He continues to flout his pre-election pledge that his refereeing won’t impact on his parliamentary duties – he seems to be forgetting that his parliamentary duties don’t end when he leaves Westminster.
“He may well be hoping for sympathy that he doesn’t get a trip to the World Cup next year – but that step alone is not good enough, and he is mistaken if he thinks this puts the issue to bed.
“Mr Ross should be concentrating on his first job of representing his constituents not his second job of running the line. And yet again we see that tomorrow he is avoiding his constituency in order to officiate at Hearts v Rangers – it’s simply not sustainable for him to continue to short-change the people who elected him.
“Not only is his second job becoming untenable, but his first job is too – as he continues to break a promise made to his constituents. Just when will he be out and about in his constituency hearing about the big issues facing people there – like the universal credit rollout?
“It’s time for Douglas Ross to actually honour his pre-election commitment that his very well paid hobby won’t get in the way of his duties as an MP – otherwise it will be perfectly clear that his constituents have been conned.”
Footnote on copyright for photo of Mr Ross
© www.parliament.uk, 2017
This photograph is licensed under the Open Government Licence 3.0.
