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MORAY MP DOUGLAS ROSS has said he was left ‘astonished’ at comments attributed to Richard Lochhead MSP in the Scottish Parliament this week.

Mr Ross referred to comments by the Moray MSP as being “ill-judged” after he described people who voted to leave the European Union as showing “misplaced patriotism”.

The MP said: “These are ill-judged comments at best from Richard Lochhead, who would do well to remember that nearly half of EU referendum voters in Moray backed the Leave campaign.

“This arrogant dismissal of the views of people he does not agree with is sadly typical of the SNP. He has shown once again that the SNP do not respect the result of the referendum, and have resorted to insulting millions of voters across the UK, as well as almost 24,000 in Moray alone.

“People voted Leave for many reasons, but it serves no-one to try and suggest that they were wrong to do so.

“Presumably there are two kind of patriots as far as Mr Lochhead is concerned, as I doubt anyone who voted in favour of Scottish independence would be regarded by him as having ‘misplaced’ views about national identity.”

MSP Responds

Last night Mr Lochhead hit back at the MP, saying: “For someone who claims to have voted Remain in the EU referendum Mr Ross seems to have morphed into a starry eyed UKIP type flag waving political opportunist.

“I’ve always said that many people in Moray voted Leave for genuine reasons such as the impact of the Common Fisheries Policy but many people across the UK were persuaded by the false promises made by the right-wing Leave campaigners in UKIP and the more extreme elements of the Tory party, who’d rather sail away into the Atlantic singing Rule Britannia.

“The promise made by Leave campaigners of an extra £350million a week for the NHS is a case in point, whereas now we know it’s going to cost the UK tens of billions.

“Many people I’ve spoken to regret voting to Leave now that the real implications are becoming clear. The Moray economy faces very real threats from a Conservative Party that is heading for a Hard Brexit and departure from the Single Market and Customs Union – I made the point that even people who voted Leave did not vote for a Hard Brexit.

Why is Douglas Ross not devoting more of his energies to making the case for a good deal for Moray?”