RUTH Davidson's authority is "being shredded by the day" as more of her party colleagues back Boris Johnson for Prime Minister and support a no-deal Brexit, according to the SNP.

Johnson has pledged to take Scotland and the rest of the UK out of the European Union by October 31 “deal or no deal” and “do or die.”

Four Scottish Tory MPs – Ross Thomson, Colin Clark, Douglas Ross and Andrew Bowie – are now officially backing Johnson, and 3 MSPs – Michelle Ballantyne, Margaret Mitchell and Oliver Mundell – have said the will vote for him to be the next PM.

Michelle Ballantyne previously said: “I think there’s a recognition that Boris Johnson wouldn’t play well in Scotland (…) because I don’t think Scotland has been an area that he’s ever really given much thought to (…) having a prime minister who is interested in Scotland, who cared about Scotland, who cares about Scotland, is important to us,” but is now backing Boris Johnson for Tory leader.

Other Tories who warned of “adverse consequences” of No-Deal and described the prospect as “far from satisfactory” have also fallen into line behind Boris Johnson.

Ruth Davidson oroginally backed Sajid Javid in the Tory leadership contest but switched her allegiance to Jeremy Hunt when the Home Secretary was put out of the race.

Davidson said "always put the Union first" and would therefore get her vote.
 
SNP MSP George Adam said: “Ruth Davidson’s authority is being shredded by the day as more and more of her colleagues ignore her and lend their backing to Boris Johnson, and to a no-deal Brexit that would be a disaster for Scotland

“We know that a no-Deal Brexit pursued by Boris Johnson would be an utter catastrophe for Scotland – putting up to 100,000 jobs at risk and costing every person up to £2300 a year – yet that’s exactly where we are headed.

“Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU, and we know that any form of Brexit could be devastating to our jobs, living standards, public services and economy.

“Brexit will hit the pockets of people across Scotland – the people that Tory MSPs and MPs were elected to represent. The Scottish Tories know this, they’ve spoken out against a no-deal Brexit before, but they continue to fall meekly into line behind Boris Johnson – a man who is clearly unfit to be PM.

“The Tories in Scotland are no different to their toxic colleagues at Westminster – they have proved themselves completely out of touch, and utterly incapable of standing up for the interests of Scotland.”