Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw has said he supports the decision of Ross Thomson to step down, adding he does not think it will harm his party’s electoral prospects.
Mr Thomson announced he would not stand in the General Election on December 12 after Labour MP Paul Sweeney made public allegations he had “groped” him in a Westminster bar.
Speaking at a campaign event in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, on Monday, Mr Carlaw announced the party would stand Aberdeen City Council co-leader Douglas Lumsden in the Aberdeen South seat Mr Thomson won in 2017.
Mr Thomson described the claims as “defamatory” in a statement released at the weekend.
READ MORE: Decision to omit SNP from Sky election debate 'defies democracy' says Nicola Sturgeon
He said he was the victim of a “political smear” and would fight to clear his name but would not be seeking re-election.
Mr Carlaw said he “fully supported” his decision to stand aside.
He said: “I’m sorry that Ross has stood down. I’ve known him for many years. This was a decision he reached entirely of his own account.
“None of us expected this General Election. The House of Commons inquiry into these allegations has not yet finalised and I think that Ross felt that it was too much of a distraction for him to become a huge story.
“I support him in that decision. We’ve now selected a new candidate in Aberdeen South and I feel that he will go on and win the seat.”
The Scottish Tory leader said he believes his party will hold the Aberdeen South seat (Craig Paton/PA)
The Scottish Tory leader was on the campaign trail with newly announced candidate for Lanark and Hamilton East Shona Haslam, joined by MSPs Jamie Greene, Annie Wells and Graeme Simpson.
Speaking at an earlier campaign event on Monday, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said it was right for Mr Thomson to stand aside.
She told the PA news agency: “It’s not for me to judge the veracity of those allegations.
“I know there are investigations underway but I think in all of the circumstances I think it’s probably better that Ross Thomson is not a candidate in this election.”
The Scottish Tory leader felt the allegations against Mr Thomson would not harm his party’s chances in the north-east seat.
Please see below a statement which I have released to the media this afternoon 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/UbURTHrskt
— Ross Thomson MP (@RossThomson_MP) November 3, 2019
He said: “I was out there campaigning a few weeks ago because there just so happens to be a council by-election in that seat.
“Our national message is certainly one that resonates there.
READ MORE: Neil Mackay: Question Time comes to Scotland this week – it must stop the destruction of trust
“People don’t want a second independence referendum, they told me they want to see Brexit sorted and we actually want to move onto the issues that matter to us.
“I think Douglas Lumsden, who is well known to everybody in the area as the leader of the council, will take that message forward and I’m quite confident of the outcome in the election on December 12.”
Mr Lumsden said he was “honoured” to have been selected as the candidate for the seat.
He added: “I want to first pay tribute to the hard work and dedication of Ross Thomson over the past two years.
“He has made a personal decision to step down, but he has always been a great champion for this city.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel