THE Scottish Conservatives have denied rumours Ruth Davidson is eyeing up a move to Westminster as early as next year.
The party leader is reported to be considering taking a peerage as she bids to become a Cabinet minister.
The move would be an attempt to take over from Theresa May as UK party leader and Prime Minister.
But a Scottish Tory spokeswoman rubbished the claim, insisting it “simply isn’t the case”.
Ms Davidson, who is currently pregnant with her first child, is taking time off on maternity leave.
She has always insisted she is focused on fighting the 2021 Holyrood elections, but has hinted at a possible future move to Westminster.
A friend of Ms Davidson told The Sun: “Ruth told me that she is having a rethink about the next few years.
“It’s dawning on her that she needs to prove she can run something bigger than just the Scottish Tory party to show members she would be good leader of the party and the country.
“You can renounce peerages these days, so that’s how she’d do it as a stop gap before fighting a Westminster seat at the next general election, whenever it comes.”
The newspaper reported that a spokesman for Ms Davidson, 39, did not deny she has had conversations with friends about moving to Westminster.
But he rejected any suggestion she had already decided to leave the Scottish Parliament before 2021.
A Scottish Tory spokeswoman said: “Ruth is returning to Holyrood after she has the baby and wants to be First Minister of Scotland.”
Ms Davidson previously said she hadn’t ruled out a move down south.
She told the Spectator magazine last year: “If devolution is going to work, then actually there has to be the ability to move between chambers and parliaments.”
The Scottish Tory leader is expecting her first baby with partner Jen Wilson in November.
Earlier this year, she said she would be taking some time off for maternity leave like "thousands of working women do every year".
The party’s deputy leader, Jackson Carlaw, will take charge until she returns in spring next year.
Ms Davidson, who become Scottish Tory leader in 2011, has been repeatedly floated as a possible future Prime Minister, despite her relative lack of experience.
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