Scottish Secretary Alister Jack to stand down at the next election

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has confirmed that he will stand down as an MP at the next election.

Mr Jack insisted he would not depart earlier, even though he is expected to be offered a peerage in Boris Johnson's resignation honours list.

The Dumfries and Galloway MP said he did not want to trigger a by-election by moving to the House of Lords.

He said his government role was an "enormous privilege" and he planned to continue in it until the next election.

In an interview with ITV Border, Mr Jack said he had been "very clear" in repeatedly saying he would not stand as a candidate at the next election.

He added: "I said that to Boris Johnson, I've said that to Liz Truss when she appointed me as Secretary of State for Scotland.

"And I said it to Rishi Sunak when he also appointed me as Secretary of State for Scotland.

"At each reshuffle I've said, 'I want to be honest with you, I'm not standing at the next general election'."

When asked if he would go to the Lords after the next election, he replied: "Who knows?"

Mr Jack said his local conservative group would seek to find a new candidate "in the next couple of months".

First elected to the Commons in 2017, Mr Jack took up his government role in July 2019, succeeding David Mundell as Scottish Secretary.

The SNP's Westminster deputy leader, Mhairi Black MP, said it was time for Mr Jack to "come clean" on what deal had been done with Mr Sunak to delay his peerage.

"The SNP is the main contender in Dumfries and Galloway, and every Tory-held seat in Scotland," she said.

"We are ready to take the fight to the Tories - and challenge Alister Jack to stand down now, so people in Dumfries and Galloway can have an SNP MP that will stand up for their interests, instead of rubber-stamping every damaging decision from Downing Street."