Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross faces no action over undeclared earnings

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross will not be sanctioned after failing to declare earnings while serving as an MP.

Mr Ross reported himself in November for not recording his full MSP salary and earnings as a match official for the Scottish Football Association.

The Standards Commissioner at Westminster has now ruled there was "no deliberate attempt to mislead".

Mr Ross has apologised and "guaranteed" the mistake will not be repeated.

As an MSP who is also an MP for Moray, Mr Ross receives a top-up payment from the Scottish Parliament of £21,490 for a whole year.

However, since he only became a list MSP for the Highlands and Islands last May, his failure to declare was for six months' worth of earnings totalling £10,745.

A further £6,728.57 income from 16 football matches in 2020 and 2021 was also undeclared.

Douglas Ross works part-time as a match official for the SFA

Following the judgement by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Mr Ross said he had "accepted full responsibility for getting this badly wrong".

He said: "As soon as I realised this error, I provided the UK Parliament with all relevant details, and reported it myself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

"I also apologised at the outset for making this mistake and accepted full responsibility for getting this badly wrong. I want to repeat that apology today and guarantee that it won't happen again. I have taken steps to stop these failings occurring again.

"My MSP salary continues to be donated to charity and has been declared on time since November, as will any future payments received for football games."