UK Government ministers and Douglas Ross must face a formal inquiry after the Scottish Tory leader appeared to “leak” details of the Chancellor’s Budget, the SNP have said.
Ross announced during FMQs that Jeremy Hunt was uprating pensions and benefits in line with inflation before the Chancellor revealed the news himself in Westminster.
At around 12.08pm, Ross said: “The narrative from the Chancellor is a UK Government that is increasing benefits and pensions in line with inflation”.
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It wasn’t until just after 12.20pm in the Commons that Hunt revealed the same rise in benefits and pensions.
Ross’s announcement could therefore amount to a breach of parliamentary privilege and the ministerial code, and land the Scottish Tory leader in hot water.
Commenting on the situation, the SNP’s shadow cabinet office spokesperson Brendan O’Hara said that Ross and the Westminster Tories have “serious questions to answer about how and why he appeared to preannounce the Chancellor’s plans”.
He added: “There are strict rules in place around the details of Budget statements, and the Tories appear to have flagrantly breached those rules around market-sensitive information.
“They cannot claim they were using the same information given in advance to other parties as that was heavily redacted in terms of the Chancellor’s key announcements."
O’Hara went on to call for “a full-scale investigation” into the incident by Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, before saying he would write to him to request such an inquiry.
He continued: “There are serious questions here, including on whether the Ministerial Code may have been breached – something which has even more relevance given the recent tawdry examples of Tory ministers playing fast and loose with the rules.
“Douglas Ross may have thought he was being smart by pre-empting the Chancellor in this way – but if the tables were turned he would be the first on his feet demanding an investigation, so he and his Westminster colleagues should now face the same level of scrutiny.”
The Scottish and UK Conservative parties have been contacted for comment.
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