EDINBURGH’s Lord Provost issued a private apology to his SNP colleagues after forgetting to declare his ownership of a hotel in the Highlands.
Councillor Frank Ross said sorry to fellow SNP candidates in an email that has been leaked to the Sunday Herald.
However, he also attached a draft letter to a newspaper in which he aimed a barb at the business history of Labour general election candidate Ian Murray, accusing him of running two failed companies which left debts.
According to public records, Ross is a major shareholder in Silverfjord Kingussie Ltd, a company that paid £160,000 for the 11-bed Silverfjord Hotel.
It was revealed in April that Ross, at that point SNP group leader on Edinburgh council, had not declared the hotel on his local authority register of interest.
Asked about the hotel’s absence from his declaration, Ross, who was tipped to be the next council leader, said initially: “The fact that it’s not recorded is a fact, and I need to address that now.”
Opposition parties lambasted him for the error and he was described by Murray as a “liability”.
The SNP subsequently became the largest party on the council after May’s election, but Ross was deposed as leader and replaced by councillor Adam McVey.
Ross was then installed as Lord Provost, a role that requires him to be a civic figurehead.
A Labour source commented: "Frank Ross is an utter embarrassment to his party. Nicola Sturgeon must despair that he is now the figurehead for our capital city. "
On April 21, days before the council election, Ross apologised to SNP candidates.
In an email, he wrote: "By now you will have heard or even read the article in todays [sic] Herald in relation to the inaccuracies in my declaration of interests. I and nearly everyone I have spoken to regards this as a non story but i apologise if this has caused you any discomfort in your respective campaigns."
In his draft newspaper letter, which was never sent, he wrote: “Firstly, I must make clear that it was my responsibility to ensure the original declaration was recorded on the system and I should have checked. However a replacement form has now been submitted and I will check this time.”
Despite admitting his mistake, Ross aimed fire at Labour and Murray for criticising him.
“So why has this subject raised its head now and why via Labour’s only MP in Scotland. The timing is clear – there is a council election underway. It's opportunistic and a poor attempt to underpin what is going to be the worst council election result in living memory for Labour.”
In another section of the letter, he wrote: “Ian Murray states ‘it takes a special level of arrogance to think you can run Scotland’s capital while you are running a hotel in a completely different part of the country’. Well, I am not surprised that Ian does not understand it. His last two ventures into business resulted in them ceasing trading while owing more in liabilities than they had in assets.”
Miles Briggs, a Tory MSP who is standing as his party’s general election candidate in Edinburgh South West, said: “The fact councillor Ross thinks this was a ‘non-story’ calls into question the sincerity of his apology. This was a spectacular error, and the fact it was reported so widely proves the revelation was very much in the public interest.
“But it seems the only thing councillor Ross has regrets over is the impact it had on the SNP campaign.”
The Lord Provost declined to comment.
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