91Èȱ¬

The Scottish Conservatives have dropped a Holyrood candidate over what they called "unacceptable comments".

Craig Ross recorded a podcast last year in which he described food bank users as being more at risk of diabetes than starvation.

He also questioned the influence footballer Marcus Rashford has on UK government welfare policy.

The Conservatives suspended Mr Ross, then later announced he was "no longer a candidate or a member of the party".

The party had launched an investigation after the comments came to light, saying: "These unacceptable comments do not reflect the views of the party."

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf had called for Mr Ross to be thrown out the party and dropped as the Conservative candidate in Glasgow Pollok.

The Holyrood elections are due to be held on 6 May.

Mr Ross, a former lecturer at Langside College, runs a podcast in which he delivers reaction to pieces in The Guardian newspaper "from the centre-right".

In one episode recorded in June 2020, Mr Ross talked about the percentage of body fat of "ordinary people".

Originally reported in the , his comments were in response to a Channel 4 News piece featuring foodbanks.

He said: "We have no real grasp of just how ridiculously overweight the population is.

"I'm not saying that every single person who claims to be really hungry and is reliant on charity is also very overweight.

"But what I am saying is if Channel 4 News is having a reasonable go at showing the reality of food bank usage, then we know the people that they filmed are far from starving. If anything their biggest risk is not starvation, it's diabetes."

On Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford, who has called on Boris Johnson to review the UK government's free school meals policy, Mr Ross said: "Has Marcus Rashford stood for election to anything? Not that I'm aware of."

Scottish Tory leader, Douglas Ross, has supported Mr Rashford's campaign.