Natalie Don MSP said:

“This does not really come as a surprise, with the complete chaos we’ve seen since Liz Truss became Prime Minister.

“Her economic plans crashed the economy and her attempt to shift all the blame on her former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng fooled no one. Her position was untenable.

“She came into office and actually made things worse than the previous worst Prime Minister in history – Boris Johnson – but has even managed to set standards even lower.

“We’ve already wasted weeks during the last Tory leadership election contest – where no one was taking the decisions to tackle the cost of living crisis created by the Tories. We will now have at least another week of confusion as Tory MPs alone will try to find a new leader and Prime Minister.

“It’s sheer hypocrisy that yet again we’re told that Scotland’s voters aren’t allowed to change their minds over the 2014 Independence Referendum yet here we have the Tories changing their leader yet again – and no voter having any say on this! This is not democracy – this is shambolic and Scotland deserves better.

“It’s time for a UK general election and the issue of Scotland’s Independence must be at the forefront of any campaign. We need to make our own decisions and not be dragged down by the political and economic chaos created in Westminster.”