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Douglas Ross, a junior minister in the
Scotland Office, has resigned from the government over Dominic Cummings’ alleged breach of lockdown rules.
In a statement announcing his decision to quit on Tuesday, he said: “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.
“I cannot in good faith tell them they were all wrong and one senior adviser to the government was right.”I haven't commented publicly on the situation with Dominic Cummings as I have waited to hear the full details. I welcome the statement to clarify matters, but there remains aspects of the explanation which I have trouble with. As a result I have resigned as a government Minister. pic.twitter.com/6yXLyMzItJ— Douglas Ross MP (@Douglas4Moray) May 26, 2020Ross, the Tory MP for Moray, said: “As a father myself, my instinct is to always do what is best for my son and wife.
“We have been fortunate not to have caught this awful virus but if we did, we are prepared to follow the government advice and stay at home to contain this virus.
“While the intentions may have been well meaning, the reaction to this news shows that Mr Cummings interpretation of the government advice was not shared by the vast majority of people who have done as the government asked.”
Cummings remains under
fire over allegations he breached
Coronavirus lockdown restrictions, after he said he does not regret his actions and declined to apologise.
In an extraordinary press conference in the 10 Downing Street garden, the prime minister’s chief adviser sought to defend his decision to drive to County Durham from
London in March.
Cummings said he made the trip because of fears over a lack of childcare if he became incapacitated with the virus, and concerns about his family’s safety – but revealed that despite the backlash he has “not considered” resigning.
Outlining his trip to the North East, the adviser told reporters how his wife, the journalist Mary Wakefield, fell ill on March 27 – leading him to swiftly leave No. 10 to return home.
After a couple of hours, she felt better and Cummings went back to Downing Street. But that evening he said he discussed the situation with his wife – including the fact that many in No. 10 had developed coronavirus symptoms.
Cummings said he was worried that if they both fell ill, there was “nobody in London we could reasonably ask to look after our child and expose themselves to Covid”.
The family drove to Durham that evening and did not stop on the way, he said. They stayed in an “isolated property” on his father’s farm, where the following day he woke up in pain and “clearly had Covid symptoms”.
Cummings said that by April 11 he was still feeling “weak and exhausted” but had no coronavirus symptoms, so thought he would be able to return to work the following week – possibly part-time.
But he said that because his eyesight had been affected by the disease, his wife did not want to risk the long drive back to London, so they went on a “short drive” to Barnard Castle – around 25 miles away from where he was isolating.
“We did not visit the castle, we did not walk around the town,” he insisted, but said that he had felt a “bit sick” so they had walked about 10 to 15 metres to the riverbank where they sat for about 15 minutes until he felt better.
The family returned to London on April 13, and he went back to work the next day, Cummings said.
In the hour-long press conference, he declined to apologise for his actions, but conceded that “reasonable people may well disagree about how I thought about what to do in the circumstances”.This is a
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