By Rachel Amery

Copyright scotsman

Jamie Hepburn has resigned as an SNP minister after being accused of assaulting Douglas Ross in the Scottish Parliament. He stepped down from his role as parliamentary business minister on Friday afternoon, admitting his behaviour had fallen “well short” of the standard expected. On Thursday, Mr Ross, the former leader of the Scottish Conservatives, alleged that Mr Hepburn had physically assaulted him and verbally abused him as he left the Holyrood debating chamber the previous day. Mr Hepburn admitted putting his hands on Mr Ross and using “choice words”. Get daily political analysis – subscribe for free to The Steamie His resignation comes just hours after Mr Ross wrote to First Minister John Swinney saying the incident amounted to “bullying” and claiming he feared for his colleagues. Mr Ross urged the First Minister to refer the incident for breaking the ministerial code. In a letter to Mr Swinney offering his resignation, Mr Hepburn said: “Irrespective of whether or not the ministerial code has been breached, even if there had been no complaint made, I believe I have not acted in accordance with my own personal code of practice. “This decision is one that I feel is for the best in these circumstances and the one that for my own part feel is the appropriate course of action.” Mr Hepburn said he had “always tried to act courteously” with his colleagues, but added “there is no denying that my interaction with Douglas Ross fell well short of that standard”. He said: “Despite whatever annoyance I felt at that particular moment, there is a manner in which that might have been conveyed, or indeed shouldn’t have been conveyed. That is not in utilising the language that I did. “I hope it is recognised on your part and others that this behaviour was quite out of character on my part.” In response, Mr Swinney said it was a “personal regret” to see Mr Hepburn resigning, and said: “I know there will be no one more frustrated than you over this one slip in your normal approach of courtesy and respect to all.” The First Minister added: “You leave office with my warmest thanks and my appreciation for the constant support that you have given to me.” Mr Hepburn was first elected as a Central Scotland MSP in 2007, and has served as the constituency MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth since 2011. He first joined the government in 2014 as sport, health improvement and mental health minister, and went on to serve as employability and training minister, business fair work and skills minister and independence minister. In May 2024, Mr Swinney appointed him as parliamentary business minister. In a statement, Mr Ross said: “This is the correct decision and I also appreciate Jamie Hepburn reaching out following his resignation to personally apologise to me for his behaviour. “However, this issue should have been settled yesterday when the First Minister was made aware of the full facts. “Jamie Hepburn admitted behaviour that fell well short of that expected of ministers. Instead, John Swinney backed him and the Nationalists were determined to ride this out and endorse that behaviour until I called for the situation to be investigated by the Independent Advisors on the Ministerial Code.”