DOUGLAS Ross’s launch of the Scottish Tory manifesto has been disrupted by serial protester Sean Clerkin.
The independence and housing campaigner warned “Mr Three Jobs Ross” of “social unrest” in Scotland unless the UK government moved to uprate benefits.
When Tory staff tried to force the activist out of the function room at the Marriot Hotel in Glasgow, the party leader told them to stand down and let Mr Clerkin finish his intervention.
The protester said: “People are going to be driven into poverty because of the cost of living increase all because of the criminal leaders that are down in Westminster, Johnson and Sunak. They should be forced to resign over partygate.”
“There's gonna be social unrest in Scotland unless you stop what you're doing,” he added.
“We need to uprate benefits, Social Security benefits by the rate of inflation, seven to nine per cent. All I'm saying is you should be raising the rate for social security, universal credit by seven to nine per cent and restore the £20 a week to Universal Credit, that's what you should be doing, Mr Ross, Mr Three Jobs Ross.”
Mr Clerkin then made his own way out of the room.
After he left, the Scottish Tory leader said he was happy for his policies to be scrutinised and to answer any and all questions.
Sean Clerkin heckling Douglas Ross at the Scottish Tory manifesto launch. pic.twitter.com/YAxgHIuIU4
— Andrew Learmonth (@andrewlearmonth) April 14, 2022
Mr Clerkin has a long history of targeting politicians. Most famously in 2011, he forced the then Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray to hide in a Subway sandwich shop, after he hijacked a party event at Glasgow Centra Station.
He is also no friend of the SNP, having reported them to police, accusing the party of fraud over misspending £600,000 donated by activists into a ring-fenced fund for IndyRef2.
Last year he was charged with police after unveiling a banner outside Edinburgh Airport, that read “England, get out of Scotland”.
He was accused of behaving in a "threatening or abusive manner, which was likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm, in that you did attend and display a banner with offensive and racial remarks, contrary to Section 38/1 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing Scotland Act 2010".
Charges were later dropped.
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