THE abhorrent comments that have reportedly been made by Frank Hester, the Tory’s biggest donor, are just a further reason why Scotland must send a clear message at the next General Election.

Last week, Hester was reported by The Guardian newspaper to have said that looking at ex-Labour MP Diane Abbott made “you just want to hate all black women”, and that Abbott, the UK’s longest-serving black MP, “should be shot”.

I consider the reported comments about Diane Abbott to be racist and misogynistic. They are just disgusting.

After initially refusing to call the remarks racist, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak released a statement to say: “The comments allegedly made by Frank Hester were racist and wrong.”

But here is the thing, the Tory party are so morally bankrupt they are keeping his £15 million donation.

The impact of a donation of £15 million to any political party is huge.

This represents roughly half what the Tories are planning to spend at the next General Election.

Sometimes the London HQ of the Tory party can feel far away from Scotland. But the impact of a £15 million donation to the Tories of course impacts the coffers of every part of the UK Tory party.

It is interesting to note that Frank Hester’s companies have been awarded more than £400 million of NHS and prison contracts in the last eight years.

Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said on Thursday that the donations should be “looked at”. I agree with him, but this weak statement is just not good enough.

I call upon Douglas Ross and the three Tory Lothian MSPs that represent this area, Jeremy Balfour, Miles Briggs and Sue Webber, to demand that their party returns the £15 million donated by Frank Hester.