Douglas Ross has been announced as the new Scottish Tory leader.

The party said there were no other nominations by the noon deadline today and the MP for Moray takes over from Jackson Carlaw who resigned last week.

Mr Ross, who is also a football referee, will remain at Westminster and Ruth Davidson, herself a former Scottish Tory leader, will stand in as opposition leader opposite Nicola Sturgeon at First Minister’s Questions.

Ms Davidson will be stepping down as an MSP next March and will take up a position in the house of Lords after Boris Johnson gave her a peerage.

Other Scottish opposition leaders said Mr Ross has been installed from Westminster without consulting the party membership.

Patrick Harvie Scottish Green co-leader said: “It’s also clear that the Prime Minister thinks the entire Holyrood group is useless, having overlooked the lot of them to appoint a backbench MP as leader. Combined with the stand-in role of Ruth Davidson, who is only marking time at Holyrood till she gets her ermine and her unelected job for life, it’s all symbolic of Boris Johnson’s contempt for Scotland and our Parliament, and even for their own members.”