THE first Tory MSP has called for Dominic Cummings to be sacked, adding to the pressure on Scottish party leader Jackson Carlaw to follow suit. 

Adam Tomkins spoke out after Moray MP Douglas Ross resigned as a junior Scotland Office minister this morning citing the public mood against the Prime Minister’s top aide.

Mr Tomkins said losing Mr Ross from the UK Government was a “disaster”.

He tweeted: “It shows exactly why Cummings should be sacked. I suspect others will follow where Douglas has led.”

Mr Tomkins, a Glasgow MSP since 2016, was recently appointed his party’s spokesperson on strategy at Holyrood.

Mr Ross was also commended for resigning by Tory MSP Donald Cameron, his party's finance spokesman at Holyrood.

He tweeted: "Well done, my friend."

Their comments intensify the pressure on Mr Carlaw to demand Mr Cummings's resignation too.

The Prime Minister’s chief adviser yesterday denied any wrongdoing and refused to apologise for breaking the coronavirus lockdown in March.

He drove 260-miles from London to his family’s farm in Durham with his wife and four-year-old child, saying he needed to ensure child care if both parents fell sick. 

He also took a 60-mile round trip to Barnard Castle on Easter Sunday, his wife’s birthday, saying he had needed to test his eyesight before driving back to London.

Mr Ross, a former MSP and MP for Moray since 2017, announced he was standing down as a junior Scotland Office minister just after 9.20am because of the public mood.

He said: "I have constituents who didn't get to say goodbye to loved ones; families who could not mourn together; people who didn't visit sick relatives because they followed the guidance of the government. 

“I cannot in good faith tell them they were all wrong and one senior advisor to the government was right.

“This is not a decision I have reached quickly. I have waited to hear all of the information and thought long and hard over this. I realise both the immediate and long-term implications of my decision to resign from government.

“While it has been a great privilege to serve as a Minister, my first duty is to be a representative and I feel I can best represent toy Moray constituents and many across the country who have expressed their feelings about this by resigning as a Minister.”

SNP MSP George Adam said: “The public have no confidence in Boris Johnson’s handling of the Dominic Cummings disaster – which has completely undermined public health messaging. 

“Jackson Carlaw’s defence of Cummings was tone deaf to begin with. 

“Now that the fury felt within his own party is becoming obvious, Carlaw looks even more out of touch. 

“This scandal is a test of leadership which Jackson Carlaw is failing every bit as much as his boss Boris Johnson. 

“It’s time for the Scottish Tories to do the right thing and back the public who’ve followed the guidance – instead of trying to curry favour with Boris Johnson.

“Jackson Carlaw must now call on the Prime Minister to sack Dominic Cummings.”

Shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray, the Labour MP for Edinburgh South, said: “Douglas was a fair and reasonable minister who has done the decent thing and resigned from a government that is out of control.

“Integrity has been sadly lacking from this government, especially over the last 72 hours, so I commend him for making this difficult decision.

“He understands that it’s not acceptable to have one rule for Boris Johnson’s closest adviser, another for everybody else.

“Douglas has shown more integrity than Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw and other UK Government ministers who have defended the indefensible and couldn’t be more out of touch with the people of Scotland and the UK.”

Scottish LibDem MP Wendy Chamberlain said: "The volume of correspondence that I have had from constituents appalled at Dominic Cummings has been unprecedented.

"Douglas Ross has done the honourable thing. Now Jackson Carlaw should join him in calling for Cummings to be sacked.

"He has utterly undermined the government's public health message while my constituents have missed birthdays, illnesses and funerals by staying home and doing the right thing.

“It cannot be one rule for senior government officials and one rule for everyone else. Boris Johnson is losing the trust of his own Ministers and his judgement is seriously in question.”