Tory Holyrood candidate under fire for 'offensive' comments on public sector pay and Covid

A Tory candidate set to be elected in May has come under fire after it was revealed that she accused politicians and the media of “creating panic and fear” over Covid-19 and attacked pay rises for public sector workers.

Sue Webber, a Conservative councillor in Edinburgh, also described party leader Douglas Ross as “out of his mind” for refusing to oppose “crazy travel bans”.

In a series of messages reported by The Herald, Ms Webber said it was “about time” that public sector pay be frozen. When a colleague brought up council employees having to work extremely long hours, she added: “Welcome to the hours we work in the private sector”.

Writing in a Whatsapp group for Conservative councillors, she wrote: “I was thinking of a vote-winning policy called salary sacrifice where they only get 80 per cent and have to struggle like the others on furlough.”

“Then they might want this sorry state to get resolved faster.”

Ms Webber, who has been placed second on the party’s list for the Lothian region ahead of two sitting MSPs, also said that the “media and many ill-informed politicians” were “creating panic and fear” over Covid-19, claiming that that the NHS was “not overwhelmed in terms of beds being filled”, but that “poor decisions on timing of when they test still is creating pressure”.

When restrictions were increased before Christmas, Ms Webber wrote "people die ... more people die in winter".

Party activists have blasted the comments as “grossly inappropriate” and “proper nasty Tory stuff”, and claim they had taken their concerns about Ms Webber’s views to party officials “many times” but that their warnings fell on deaf ears.

“Apologies now won’t cut it – the party needs to explain why they think she is still fit to stand,” said one Conservative source.

The Conservative Party has defended Ms Webber as a “highly-regarded female politician, hard-working local councillor and candidate who fights for all of her constituents”, with a spokesperson adding that “most” of the messages have been “unfairly taken out of context”.

“She apologises for those few that were inappropriate and stresses that private messages written in haste do not reflect her views, as most reasonable people would understand and accept,” they added.

But Ms Webber’s comments have been met with condemnation from other political parties, with the SNP claiming the “Tory mask has slipped” ahead of May’s election and the Lib Dems accusing the Conservatives of taking a “turn for the extreme”.

Angus Robertson, SNP candidate for Edinburgh Central, said: “To see a Tory candidate suggest docking the pay of all those who have been on the frontline keeping public services going during this pandemic is a disgrace.

"Frontline workers have been working day-in day-out to keep Scotland safe from Covid-19, and Ms Webber's attempt to downplay the fight against this virus does a total disservice to them.”

Mr Robertson added that it is “no surprise” that a person with such “toxic views” is standing “for the party of Boris Johnson and Douglas Ross”, adding that it’s “hard to see” how she can remain a candidate.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Greens have challenged the Tories to deselect Ms Webber.

Scottish Greens health spokesperson Alison Johnstone said: “It is deeply alarming that the Scottish Conservatives could select someone willing to risk public health, denies the science and holds the public sector workers who have seen us through this crisis in such contempt.”

And Liberal Democrat MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton, who is defending his Edinburgh Western seat at May’s election, described the messages as “deeply troubling”.

He added: "While our NHS and public sector staff work hard to get us through the pandemic, Sue Webber is suggesting docking their pay. For her to be ranked above sitting Conservative MSPs on the list suggests that her party has taken a turn for the extreme."

Ms Webber was contacted for comment.