A Tory MEP said the Scottish Conservatives have a “problem” with race after revealing the only non-white person in the audience for a party meeting in Perth was her husband.
Baroness Nosheena Mobarik told delegates in Birmingham that only a “shocking” 1.5% of MSPs are from ethnic minority groups, while there are none on the Conservative benches.
The former CBI scotland chairman described the ethnic make-up of the Scottish Conservative annual meeting in Perth in May.
“It was a reasonably good mix of both men and women, but the only non-white person in the audience was my husband,” she said.
“I think that is a problem. For all our continuing success, you can’t truly claim to be a party of the whole of Scotland if our membership doesn’t reflect the community we serve.”
Baroness Mobarik has been commissioned by the Scottish Conservative leader to investigate why there are so few BAME Conservatives and to make recommendations for change.
Ruth Davidson told the fringe event: “If the Scottish Conservatives are going to govern Scotland, we need to look and sound more like the Scotland we seek to represent.”
