Scottish Tory leader turns back on Ruth Davidson pledge to fight no-deal Brexit

Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The Scottish Conservative Party’s interim leader has said the UK should leave the EU on 31 October with or without a deal” – rolling back on the policy of former leader Ruth Davidson. During her time at the head of the party’s operations north of the border, she repeatedly spoke out against a no-deal Brexit, writing in July “I don’t think the government should pursue a no-deal Brexit and, if it comes to it, I won’t support it”. However Jackson Carlaw, the interim leader who took up the mantle from Ms Davidson, has opted to instead to toe the party line and support Boris Johnson’s strict adherence to leaving the bloc. It comes after the stand-in leader used a speech at a fringe event of the conference to praise his former leader’s legacy, heralding her “ferocious force of energy” and her “strong and instinctive sense of political purpose” However asked to explain why he had turned back on her Brexit stance, he said it would be “far more damaging” to drag out the Brexit process, The Scotsman reports.