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Douglas Ross: I worried about my mortgage after Trussonomics mini-Budget turmoil

Douglas Ross said: 'People are terrified about the cost of living, about their mortgages, about the ability to heat their homes' - Andrew Milligan/PA
Douglas Ross said: 'People are terrified about the cost of living, about their mortgages, about the ability to heat their homes' - Andrew Milligan/PA

Douglas Ross has admitted he was worried about the impact of of Liz Truss’s mini-Budget on his mortgage.

His comments came as as the Prime Minister urged Nicola Sturgeon to copy her income tax cuts, insisting they could “turbocharge” the Scottish economy.

Mr Ross, the Scottish Tory leader said he still had confidence in Ms Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng, the Chancellor, despite the Bank of England being forced to launch a £65 billion emergency bailout and the pound being routed on the markets.

But he said it was an “absolutely huge concern” that people would be left worse off by the impact of soaring interest rates outweighing the tax cuts.

Speaking ahead of the start of the Conservative Party conference on Sunday, Mr Ross said he was worried because he was “a mortgage payer, like the vast majority of people here in Scotland and across the UK”.

Although he refused to say who he had backed in the final round of the Tory leadership contest, he noted that Rishi Sunak, who was beaten by Ms Truss, “predicted a lot of what has happened”.

Citing the support for household energy bills, Mr Ross said there were “significant elements of the Budget that are very good for Scotland” but added: “I want to give the Chancellor and the Prime Minister and the whole government the opportunity to get out there to ensure that we provide the answers that the market are looking for, but crucially, the public and business owners, homeowners, who are worried right now.”

The Scottish Tory leader noted that Mr Sunak and Ms Truss had a "difference of opinion" over the wisdom of tax cuts during the leadership campaign and the former Chancellor "had not said much over the past week".

Mr Sunak warned during the contest that her plan for major tax cuts would “put fuel on the fire of this inflation spiral” and lead to “misery for millions” by increasing mortgage rates.

But Ms Truss on Thursday urged Ms Sturgeon to follow her lead by reducing taxes in Scotland, telling BBC Scotland she was keen to work with the First Minister on achieving that. She also backed building more nuclear power plants in Scotland, which SNP ministers have used their planning powers to veto, to fight the energy crisis.

However, Ms Sturgeon tweeted: “Hard to know what to say to the suggestion I should mirror policies (tax cuts for richest) that have sunk the £, crashed the mortgage market, pushed pensions to the brink, imperilled public services & forced a Bank of England bailout. What planet is the PM living on?”

The Truss Government’s decision to abolish the top rate of income tax in England and cut a penny off the basic rate will further widen the huge cross-border tax gap, with many middle-class Scots paying £2,000 more.

The Treasury has promised the Scottish government an extra £630 million that could be used to pass on the cuts, but Ms Sturgeon has described them as “abhorrent”.

She used the crisis to boost her independence campaign, arguing that it demonstrated that separating from the UK was required to “get away from Tory incompetence and, frankly, Tory immorality”.

The First Minister told MSPs: “People are terrified about the cost of living, about their mortgages, about the ability to heat their homes, about the security of their pensions.

“And all of that has come from a UK Government decision to borrow vast amounts of money to give enormous tax cuts to the very richest in our society. It is morally abhorrent and economically disastrous.”