North-east Tory politicians have rejected calls for Liz Truss to resign as prime minister ahead of a crucial appearance at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Pressure is building on the prime minister, who was forced to apologise for “mistakes made” in a mini-budget that wreaked havoc on the markets.
North-east Conservative MSP Douglas Lumsden, who was a vocal backer of Ms Truss during the leadership race, branded calls for her to resign “ridiculous”.
A snap poll of party members released on Tuesday saw more than half respond that she should resign and 83% say she was doing a bad job.
Ms Truss’ third Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday is expected to be a potentially defining moment for her as she faces calls to go.
Newly-appointed Chancellor Jeremy Hunt reversed the prime minister’s economic plan in a dramatic U-turn on Monday.
Mr Lumsden admitted the country is “going through a difficult patch right now” but called for politicians to “rally round” the new economic plan.
Asked how voters can have confidence in Ms Truss’ leadership, Mr Lumsden said: “She’s admitted she made a mistake. She didn’t just keep her head buried in the sand.
“She has admitted that and changed things. Surely that’s what people would want in their politicians?
“That if they’ve made a mistake that they put their hands up and fix it and not just keep dogmatically sticking with the plan that they have.”
Banff and Buchan MP David Duguid, who was given a junior Scotland Office role by Ms Truss, said he “fully supports” the prime minister and the new chancellor.
He added the pair are “prioritising stability for the north-east and the whole of the UK” and are “absolutely the right people to deliver for our country”.
Should Ms Truss resign?
Andrew Bowie, who represents West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, called for MPs to give Mr Hunt the “time and space to develop his economic plan”.
Asked if Ms Truss should resign, he said: “I think what the country needs more than anything else right now is a period of stability.
“Jeremy Hunt has to be given the time and the space to develop his economic plan that he first set out yesterday for a budget due to be produced on October 31.”
Mr Bowie backed Rishi Sunak to become leader of the party and has called for the former chancellor to be drafted into Ms Truss’ cabinet.
On whether his party made a mistake electing her, he said: “It would be the easiest thing in the world to say ‘we told you so’.
“That’s not going to help anybody. What we need to do now is make sure we get the country in the right place.
“And what that involves is giving the chancellor space, to support him as he develops our economic plan, and allowing the markets to see we’ve got a period of calm, sensible, some might say boring government, so we can move this country forward.”
Aberdeen South MP Stephen Flynn described Ms Truss as a “disaster for Scotland”.
He added: “What we now know is that in order to cover up their own mess the Tories will slash public spending, cut off energy support in April and likely end the pension triple-lock.
“The Tories tell us that Scotland can’t afford to be independent yet the reality is that we now can’t afford to be in their union.”