A government minister has resigned over Dominic Cummings’ flouting of the coronavirus lockdown rules.
Douglas Ross, MP for Moray, said that he was quitting after hearing Cummings’ efforts to defend his trip from London to Durham.
The MP, who served as under-secretary of state for Scotland, said he could not ‘in good faith’ tell his constituents who could not care for sick relatives or say goodbye to dying ones while obeying lockdown rules that Cummings acted appropriately.
The first resignation over the allegations rocking the government came as Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove sought to defend his longstanding ally.
Ross said that ‘while the intentions may have been well meaning’, Cummings’ interpretation of the rules was ‘not shared by the vast majority of people’.
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‘I have constituents who didn’t get to say goodbye to loved ones; families who could not mourn together; people who didn’t visit sick relatives because they followed the guidance of the government,’ the Tory MP wrote.
‘I cannot in good faith tell them they were all wrong and one senior adviser to the government was right.’
Number 10 responded by thanking Ross for his service.
They said: ‘The prime minister would like to thank Douglas Ross for his service to government and regrets his decision to stand down as parliamentary under-secretary of State for Scotland.’
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