Gail Ross MSP to quit as job incompatible with young family

The stress of representing a Highlands constituency has forced an SNP MSP to stand down, claiming the travel demands of the job are incompatible with having a young family.

Caithness MSP Gail Ross has announced she is to stand down from Holyrood.

Gail Ross, who has represented Caithness, Sutherland and Ross since winning the seat in 2016, has said she will not stand for re-election next year.

She is the fourth SNP MSP to announce they will quit Holyrood - James Dornan in Glasgow Cathcart, Richard Lyle in Uddingston and Bellshill, and Bruce Crawford in Stirling are also leaving next year after serving two and three terms respectively.

Ms Ross, 42, has said she decided to go after just one parliamentary term because of the geographical distance between the constituency and Scottish Parliament and the pressures this put on her family.

“The decision has been reached due to the demands of travelling to Edinburgh and being away from home for sometimes five days a week, every week,” she said. “I want to be able to spend more time with my family, to watch my son grow up and to be more involved in local issues, things I cannot presently do.

“The sheer size of the area I represent also means that I am having difficulty in reaching every part of the constituency on a regular basis and I am not able to represent my constituents in the way they deserve and rightly expect.”

However there had been speculation that Ms Ross could face an internal selection battle for the seat for next year’s election from Highlands & Islands list MSP Maree Todd, the minister for children and young people.

The MSP, who lives in Wick, has previously spoken about her battle with depression in her twenties, and said she had asked the Parliament’s Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee to investigate if MSPs could attend meetings by video link and being able to cast vote in debates remotely. She added: If we are to encourage into politics more young people with families who live far away from Edinburgh, this has to be considered.”

However in a written response, Bill Kidd, convenor of the SPPA committee said there were too many practical problems, as Holyrood did not have the technology required for remote voting and suggested she should raise the issue of timetabling of parliamentary business, which impacted on travel, with the parliament bureau.

Ms Ross’s comments were backed by former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson who also stood down for family reasons. “I completely feel for Gail. If we want politics to be truly representative - including people with young children - we need to ensure impact on family life isn’t prohibitive. Technology can help.”

A former Highland Council member before winning in the 2016 election - taking the seat from the Scottish Liberal Democrats - Ms Ross said the decision to quit frontline politics had not been easy. “I wish to sincerely thank everyone who has supported me in my journey through council and then parliament. It has been a huge privilege to represent the place where I grew up and although the job has sometimes been very challenging, these years have been some of the most rewarding of my professional career.”