Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has announced he will be standing in the next general election – in a seat where the expected Conservative candidate is recovering from back surgery.
Ross announced he would step down as a Westminster MP to focus on his work as an MSP (Member of the Scottish Parliament) ahead of the 2026 Holyrood election campaign.
But on Thursday morning, the Scottish Conservatives announced a last-minute press conference with Ross at 9.30am.
Before that, Sky News has learned that he is expected to announce that he will actually be standing as a candidate for Westminster MP in the new Aberdeenshire North and Moray East constituency, following the abolition of his Moray constituency this year due to boundary changes.
Aberdeenshire North and Moray East is the new name for the Banff and Buchan constituency that Scottish Minister David Duguid has held since 2017.
Ross’s decision will be controversial as Duguid was not re-elected to the role on Wednesday night due to health reasons, the Scottish Conservatives said.
However, Duguid said on Wednesday he was looking forward to standing in the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East constituencies as he was recovering well from surgery.
He recently spent four weeks in the ICU due to an illness that affected his spine.
Ross said the party had to make the difficult decision not to allow Duguid to stand because he was not well enough, and said he only made the decision to take up the role on Thursday morning.
“I have decided I need to lead from the front, so tonight I will put my name forward for the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East seat to defeat the SNP,” he said.
“I know how to beat the SNP and I know how important it is for local voters to beat the SNP.”
A YouGov poll with Sky News published this week shows that Aberdeenshire and Moray East remain Conservative, while the seat of Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey, which is mainly made up of the former Moray seat of Ross, is expected to go to the SNP.
In addition to Ross, the other confirmed candidates in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East are:
• Ian Bailey – Liberal Democrats
• Andrew Brown – Labor
• Seamus Logan – SNP
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