MP Douglas Ross calls for MSP Richard Lochhead to 'withdraw his comments and apologise'
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THE political row over shielding errors sent out in error to people in Moray and Grampian looks set to escalate.
Moray MP Douglas Ross had raised the issue after a constituent had been told she no longer needed to self-isolate after initially being placed in the shielded category.
He subsequently accused the Scottish Government of "letting down the most vulnerable in society".
That prompted Moray MSP and Scottish Government minister Richard Lochhead to accuse Mr Ross of "going over the top" and insisting "people in glass houses should not throw stones", in reference to the UK government issuing wrong information to people south of the border.
Mr Ross has today called on Mr Lochhead to withdraw his comments and apologise.
He said: “I was taken aback by the comments from Richard Lochhead in response to a serious issue I had raised. To call this over the top when over 3000 of these erroneous letters were sent in Grampian alone is a crude and unsympathetic comment.
"Richard Lochhead is a government minister in Scotland and I think he would serve the area better if he focussed his energy on resolving the problem, not trying to downplay and deflect from this serious mistake.
“I’ve been contacted by a number of constituents who are hurt by the comments from Richard Lochhead and I hope on reflection he will reconsider what he said; withdraw his comments and apologise to the thousands of families in our area who have been affected by this mistake.
"On seeing the response from Mr Lochhead they have told me they felt their situation was being trivialised by the Scottish Government he is a member of.”
