Rishi Sunak urged to sack Scottish secretary Alister Jack amid House of Lords speculation

Alister Jack should be sacked as Scottish secretary following reports he is being lined up to be given a seat in the House of Lords, it has been claimed.

There has been speculation that Jack will be among those nominated to be given a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.

However, a spokesman for Jack has insisted that the Dumfries and Galloway MP is “absolutely committed” to his constituents and working with the Prime Minister.

At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford hit out at the prospect of a peerage being handed to the Scottish secretary.

However, Rishi Sunak refused to be drawn on whether Jack could be given a seat in the House of Lords.

“We now know that his former friend, the former prime minister, plans to hand out seats in the House of Lords to at least four Tory MPs including the current secretary of state for Scotland,” said Blackford.

“So, here’s another test of judgement for the new Prime Minister. Does he think it right to keep a man in Cabinet whose clearly far more interested in getting his hands on an ermine robe than playing by the rules of Scottish democracy?”

Sunak responded: “I’m obviously not going to comment on speculation around such lists. Any list would of course follow the normal procedures and processes that are in place.”

Blackford suggested that there should be a by-election in Jack’s seat to allow voters to determine whether they want him to continue serving them as an MP.

He said: “I’m afraid it’s not speculation and of course, the Prime Minister clearly doesn’t get how corrupt this all looks to people in Scotland.

“Because not only do we have a UK Government that denies democracy, we now have a secretary of state that is running scared from it.

“In the middle of a Tory cost of living crisis, the Scotland Office is now to be led by a baron in waiting, biding his time until he can cash in on the (£332 a day) job for life in the House of Lords.

“He should be sacked from the Cabinet and the people of Dumfries and Galloway should be given the chance to sack the Tories in a by-election.

“The Prime Minister’s judgement is already in tatters. If he has any integrity left, will he now put a stop to his predecessor stuffing the House of Lords with his cronies?”

Sunak also confirmed that he will meet with Nicola Sturgeon on Wednesday.

“What the secretary of state and I are jointly focused on is working constructively with the Scottish Government to deliver for the people of Scotland,” he said.

“I’ll be pleased to be meeting the First Minister tomorrow because that I think is what the people of Scotland want to see.”