Rishi Sunak fails to name four members of Douglas Ross’s frontbench team

The Prime Minister was caught out during a trip to the north east of Scotland

Rishi Sunak failed to name four members of Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross's frontbench team during a trip to Scotland.

The Prime Minister was caught out while on a visit to the north east to announce millions of pounds of funding for a carbon capture and storage project. A journalist asked him to name four members of Mr Ross’s shadow cabinet and their briefs.

Mr Sunak said: “I’m seeing them all next door, actually. I've probably been here six times in the last 12 months, and I've seen Douglas and multiple members of his team during that period. What I'd say is, what I'm doing is supporting them to deliver for the people of Scotland and actually they've been raising really substantive issues.”

Douglas Ross

Scottish secretary Alister Jack, who was accompanying the Prime Minister on a visit to Shell’s St Fergus Gas Plant near Peterhead, interjected: “It’s an unfair question, because he’s [Mr Ross] just had a reshuffle.”

Mr Ross reshuffled his top team last month, with the removal of Jamie Greene from the justice brief causing some controversy. Mr Greene is a supporter of Scotland’s controversial gender reforms. He was replaced by Russell Findlay, a former journalist.

Mr Sunak continued: “He’s literally just had a reshuffle, so I don’t want to put the wrong person in the wrong job. But I don't think anyone can say that I'm not committed to working with Douglas, when I've been here six times in the past 12 months.

“I'm seeing him again today and whether it's on things like DRS [the deposit return scheme], or on things like supporting the North Sea industry, or gender recognition, these are all topics that the Scottish Conservatives have put forward and have pushed for, and they were right to do so. They are making a meaningful difference to people's lives in Scotland and my desire is to work with him and his team to do that.”

Mr Sunak has committed to providing up to £20 billion of funding for early deployment of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), with the Acorn project in Scotland’s north east receiving support.