British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government was hit by its first resignation Tuesday over the controversy surrounding top aide Dominic Cummings' cross-country trip during the coronavirus lockdown when Douglas Ross, a minister for Scotland, quit in protest.
Mr Ross said Mr Cummings' explanation of why he travelled during the coronavirus lockdown was based on decisions "others felt were not available to them".
In a letter posted on his Twitter account the junior minister in the Scotland Office said: "As a father myself, my instinct is to always do what is best for my son and wife. We have been fortunate not to have caught this awful virus but if we did, we are prepared to follow the government advice and stay at home to contain this virus."
"I have constituents who didn't get to say goodbye to loved ones, families who could not mourn together, people who didn't visit sick relatives because they followed the guidance of the government," Ross said.
"I cannot in good faith tell them they were all wrong and one senior adviser to the government was right."
The resignation will put more pressure on Mr Cummings, who held a press conference Monday to justify driving his wife and young son on a 425-kilometre trip from London to Durham in the northeast of England during the height of the coronavirus crisis.
In response to the resignation, Downing Street said it "regrets" the minister's decision.
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