Scottish Tory leader turns back on Ruth Davidson pledge to fight no-deal Brexit

‘Ruth has got very firm views. Everyone has views on Brexit’

Jackson Carlaw became leader of the Scottish Conservatives in February (PA Wire/PA Images)

The Scottish Conservative Party’s interim leader has said the UK should leave the EU on 31 October with or without a deal” – rolling back on the policy of former leader Ruth Davidson.

Ms Davidson, considered a moderating force in the Conservative party, resigned as leader in the aftermath of Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament – a move which has since been found to be unlawful by the Supreme Court.

During her time at the head of the party’s operations north of the border, she repeatedly spoke out against a no-deal Brexit, writing in July “I don’t think the government should pursue a no-deal Brexit and, if it comes to it, I won’t support it”.

However Jackson Carlaw, the interim leader who took up the mantle from Ms Davidson, has opted to instead to toe the party line and support Boris Johnson’s strict adherence to leaving the bloc.

“The Prime Minister and the government will obey the law”, Mr Carlaw told the BBC from outside the Conservative Party Conference, “but I believe that we should leave on October 31 whether or not we have a deal”.

Speaking of the need for opposition parties to get behind Mr Johnson, he added: “We need to back the prime minister and the government as they seek to arrive at [a] fresh arrangement.

“That is the right way forward for the country – I don’t think anybody can surely disagree with that”.

It comes after the stand-in leader used a speech at a fringe event of the conference to praise his former leader’s legacy, heralding her “ferocious force of energy” and her “strong and instinctive sense of political purpose”

However asked to explain why he had turned back on her Brexit stance, he said it would be “far more damaging” to drag out the Brexit process, The Scotsman reports.

“Ruth has got very firm views”, he added: “Everybody has views on Brexit”.

“My preference is for a negotiated way out, it always has been. But I’m not someone who has argued that the roof will fall in on the world in an alternative scenario if we have properly prepared for it.

“I think the effort now to properly prepare for it is underway. There are a whole series of other agreements that will apply irrespective of whether we come out of the European Union with the broader comprehensive deal that we all want to see happen.

“Far more damaging is the endless drift, three years after we voted, three years of businesses not knowing whether they’re going to end up.

“Another six month extension does not guarantee that anything will be any different at the end of it. At some point you have to say, we have to move on, and I think we are at that point now.”