A Mid Scotland and Fife Tory MSP has quit the Scottish Parliament on the eve of the new term to take up a job in business.
Dean Lockhart, who was first elected in 2016, announced his resignation on the day Liz Truss was made UK Conservative leader.
Former Tory party councillor Roz McCall, who stood unsuccessfully in Dunfermline at last year’s national election, will now take up his post without the need for any byelection.
She served as a Perth and Kinross councillor for the Tories in the area’s Strathearn ward from 2017 to 2022 before standing down at this year’s local election.
Mr Lockhart served as Holyrood’s net zero, energy and transport committee convenor and said his new job will involve working with national and local governments to tackle climate change.
In an unusual move, the departing MSP declined to say which private company he will be working for.
‘Absolute privilege’
He said: “It has been an absolute privilege to represent the people and region of Mid Scotland and Fife over the past six years.
“I have decided to accept an offer to join a business organisation that works together with governments, local authorities and third sector bodies, and that will help finance and deliver Net Zero targets across the UK.
“I would also like to express my sincere thanks to Douglas Ross for his outstanding leadership and support, and to wish him and all my colleagues all the very best for the future.”
Under Holyrood rules, replacements for departing politicians between elections are chosen automatically by their party.
It means Ms McCall will automatically become an MSP on the Mid Scotland and Fife regional list.
She said: “I am delighted and honoured to join the Scottish Conservative MSPs in Holyrood.
“As an MSP I will work to reverse the erosion of local democracy, to hold the SNP government to account, and to provide alternative, new and imaginative, positive policies.”
Ms McCall’s elevation to Holyrood comes on the day it was announced Liz Truss will become prime minister due to the votes of a tiny percentage of Tory members who make up the electorate.
Ms Truss will officially be appointed to the top job by the Queen during a visit to her Balmoral home on Tuesday.
Mr Lockhart’s departure from frontline politics wasn’t the only shake-up within the Scottish Conservatives today.
Dumfriesshire MSP Oliver Mundell revealed he will step back from the party’s Holyrood shadow cabinet for personal reasons.