The party must be over for Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak after lockdown-breaking fines

With both the Prime Minister and Chancellor making history as the first sitting politicians in high office to be found to have broken the law, you would assume that a swift resignation would be in the works.

But hours after the revelations that the pair were given fixed penalty notices for breaches of Covid-19 rules they imposed on the rest of us, most of the Cabinet had remained silent - bar Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries who came out unsurprisingly swinging in support of the PM.

READ MORE: Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak to be fined over partygate scandal

Johnson will not go of his own accord, the fact that he has clung on this long is proof enough of that fact.

Sunak may see an end in sight to his troubles and start a new life in the USA, but even that is not confirmed.

Where this leaves us, yet again, is with Tory MPs holding the power to remove Johnson from post.

But with the Ukraine invasion boosting Johnson’s satisfaction amongst the Tory membership, they could decide that it’s worth the risk to keep him in post.

If that’s the case, the only way to get rid of Johnson is for a resounding failure of the Tories at the local election on May 5.

Sunak and Johnson are facing calls for them both to resign

Why are the council elections so pivotal for Johnson and Sunak?

One thing that the Tories care more about than anything else is electability.

That is the reason Johnson, with his buffoonery and mumbling, made it as far as he did in the first place.

With Johnson the one who led the Tories to a majority in Westminster, and no longer needing the backing of the DUP as they did under Theresa May, a death knell to their vote share is the only thing that could swing the Tory MPs to resend their letters to the 1922 committee.

That is - if the huge public outrage isn’t enough to force Johnson and Sunak to stand down.

READ MORE: Keir Starmer confronted by Glasgow protester: 'Do I deserve to go to prison?'

Why does it matter in Scotland?

It could also have a devastating impact for Douglas Ross, who refused to say, after being asked by The National, if he had any concerns that partygate will impact on his party's vote share last week. He has also refused to call for Johnson to stand down in wake of the fine being issued, after already U-turning on a call to him to go. 

The latest revelations, just four weeks before the vote, could cause a shake-up amongst Scotland's councils. Currently the Tories do not have complete control of any of Scotland's local authorities.

But they are in eight coalitions across the country - Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll & Bute, East Dunbartonshire, Moray, Perth & Kinross and the Scottish Borders - with independents and LibDems.

Local elections have a notoriously low voter turn out and are difficult to poll accurately - even the smallest shift could push the Tories out of power in some places. 

Douglas Ross has refused to call for the PM to stand down

It also matters because Westminster still makes decisions which impact on Scotland. Johnson is now a proven liar, who misled parliament, and despite the fact that he is unpopular up here, his refusal to grant a second independence referendum is holding Scotland back.

This latest saga of boozing and bingeing on taxpayers cash whilst the rest of the country stuck to the rules, shows that they believe there is one rule for them and another for us.

Johnson and Sunak should not be allowed to wriggle out of this, they should be forced to go.

If they don’t and Tory MPs don’t intervene, then it will be even clearer that the only option for Scotland is independence, and voters will see that too.