RUTH Davidson has suggested the Brexit talks could be a “five-past-midnight job” as she defended the Tory Government’s strategy on EU withdrawal in lieu of a UK Cabinet minister.

Normally, a senior UK Government figure would appear on the BBC’s flagship Andrew Marr Show to defend the Conservative administration’s policies but yesterday the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, who is not a member of Theresa May’s Cabinet, appeared on screen to defend UK Government policy in what some might regard as reflective of the Edinburgh MSP’s appeal north and south of the border.

Ms Davidson, who was questioned about the UK Government’s economic policies post Budget and Brexit but was not asked about anything to do with Scottish politics, suggested that politicians might be grandstanding for their home audiences when they put forward a gloomy assessment of the talks process.

"The people that walk up to the microphones and speak to their home audience don't always reflect the negotiation and the progress that is going on in the room. When it comes to European negotiations it's always a five-past-midnight job," declared the Scottish Conservative leader.

Ms Davidson said that unless progress on to the next phase was made in December "we are rapidly going to run out of time" for a transitional deal to be put in place.

She added: "I don't think it means that the world has ended but I do think it's a setback."

Joan McAlpine for the SNP said with the Tory Government on the run after the disastrous growth forecasts and yet more criticism of their approach to the Brexit talks, it was “left up to Ruth Davidson to answer for them but she utterly failed to do so”.

The Nationalist MSP claimed Ms Davidson “perfectly epitomised” the Conservative Government’s incompetence, adding: "It was a sorry performance from the Scottish Tory leader.”