UK Parliamentarian Douglas Ross announced his resignation on Tuesday in connection with the scandal around coronavirus quarantine violation by Prime Minister Boris Johnson's top aide, Dominic Cummings in March, Sputnik news agency reported.
Cummings, his wife and their child traveled 260 miles from London to the northeastern city of Durham in late March to stay with his parents after his wife started displaying COVID-19 symptoms. Cummings's trip went against the government's guidance. The aide said that he was not considering resignation despite the public outcry, stressing that he and his wife were guided by the desire to guarantee that the child would be safe even if they both fell ill. Johnson and leading cabinet ministers have supported Cummings, saying that he acted responsibly.
"I have just tendered my resignation from the UK government and my position as Under Secretary of State for Scotland.
"There was much I still hoped to do in this role but events over the last few days mean I can no longer serve as a member of this government," Ross said in a letter, which he posted on Twitter.
Ross added that he was accepting Cummings' clarification that he acted in the interests of his family. He noted, at the same time, that these were decisions that "many others felt were not available to them."
Ross went on to say that if he, his wife and their son contracted COVID-19, they would "follow the government advice and stay home."
"The reaction to this news shows that Mr Cummings interpretation of the government advice was not shared by the vast majority of people who have done as the government asked. I have Constituencies who didn't get to say goodbye to loved ones ... I cannot in good faith tell them they were all wrong and one senior advisor to the government was right," Ross said.
The decision to resign was a hard one, Ross noted.
( With inputs from ANI )