It should of course not be at all surprising by now to hear a senior Conservative dodge responsibility for the UK’s economic woe and cost of living crisis.

Nevertheless, every time they do, it evokes a feeling of incredulity.

So why is that?

Firstly, for all that we have seen it so many times before, the brass neck of the Tories in claiming they have had nothing to do with causing the economic misery being endured by millions of households somehow still never fails to shock, at least a little bit.

And then there is the astonishment arising from just how far the Tories’ version of events, albeit a very familiar one, is from reality.

Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives until the General Election, was in top Tory form on Tuesday night when the leaders of five of Scotland's political parties went head to head in a special live BBC debate.

An audience member asked: “How will your party reduce the cost of living as the majority of working-class families are constantly struggling in the present climate?”

John Swinney, Scottish First Minister, highlighted his administration’s policies of paying for the university tuition fees of people living in Scotland, free prescriptions, and the Scottish child payment, which has risen to £26 a week for eligible children. Mr Swinney declared the Scottish child payment is keeping 100,000 children out of poverty within Scotland. He also flagged help for some households with school meals.

It was a fair enough answer, with some substance. Mr Swinney went on to warn of the threat posed by the potential for further spending cuts at Westminster following the election.

There was a difference of opinion with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar on what Mr Sarwar’s party would do on public spending if it were to win the General Election. But, whatever the case on this front, Mr Swinney is right to highlight the fact that public spending decisions taken at Westminster have a major bearing on Scotland.

Mr Sarwar, for his part, talked about “Tory economic carnage”. That seems like a fair enough description of the situation.

The Scottish Labour leader also declared: “We saw the consequences of Tory austerity on this country and how it devastated local budgets.”

This also seemed like a sensible point.

Mr Sarwar’s declaration that “we also saw the consequences of austerity imposed by John Swinney when he was Finance Secretary” was more difficult to fathom. More than that, it looked like a fairly unimpressive attempt at political point-scoring.

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The Scottish Budget has been hammered by the Conservatives’ failure to deliver decent economic growth, a situation exacerbated by their hard Brexit and failed austerity. The Tory Brexit has, by dampening growth and therefore tax revenues so greatly, blown a hole in the funding available to spend on devolved public services in Scotland. It has also, of course, cost other parts of the UK dearly in this way.

Former Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf calculated the amount of devolved public spending of which Scotland was deprived in 2023 as a direct result of Brexit at £1.6 billion, in a speech in March.

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research think-tank put the figure at £1.2bn.

What is clear, whatever figure you take, is that the effect has been huge.

And this brings us nicely back to Mr Ross and his seeming reluctance to accept any blame at all for the damage done to the UK economy and living standards by the Tories’ policymaking, including but certainly not limited to Brexit. We have, of course, also had their austerity, and much other ill-judged economic policymaking.

So what did Mr Ross have to say in response to the very pertinent question from the audience member during the debate on Tuesday night?

He declared: “It’s a hugely important issue. We have gone through global events that have been a real strain on our economy, and it’s had a huge impact on people in this room and people across the country.

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“If we look at the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine, there has been a massive shock to not only our domestic economy but economies across the globe and the Government at a UK level have tried to provide some universal support and some targeted support.”

He went on to highlight Tory national insurance cuts, which at least are a matter of fact.

What is not true is that the UK’s economic woes have somehow all been the result of “global events”.

Mr Ross did not in his response to the question mention Brexit, the devastating impact of which has been highlighted by many experts as well as by business leaders.

It was a UK Government decision, specifically by the Tories, to have a hard Brexit and leave the European single market and customs union, losing the huge twin benefits of free movement of people between the country and the European Economic Area and frictionless trade with our biggest trading partner.

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While many countries have had inflation problems, the woe on this front in the UK has been particularly bad. And it is plain that the UK’s peculiar inflation troubles have stemmed in large part from the aforementioned hard Brexit.

Furthermore, Mr Ross did not address the impact of the Tories’ failed austerity policies on the economy, households and businesses.

Lorna Slater, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, noted quite rightly that “working people have borne the brunt of cuts”.

To try to claim all the grimness that has unfolded in a UK economic context has come from “global events” is quite something.

It was obviously the party line we heard from Mr Ross, and a very familiar one at that.

However, we can surely still be forgiven for feeling incredulity on being exposed once again to the Tories’ ridiculous interpretation of events, even if it is for the umpteenth time.