Ruth Davidson: '˜Of course I have worries about childcare'

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has spoken about her childcare worries for the first time.

Scottish Conservative party leader Ruth Davidson during First Minister's Questions at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

According to The Scottish Daily Mail, the Edinburgh Central MSP admitted she and her partner Jen Wilson would be “literally on our own” when their first child, due in October, is born.

The politician also lamented the cost of childcare, saying “It is a worry for everybody. It doesn’t matter what job you are doing.”

Miss Davidson was speaking at a gender summit in Edinburgh when she made the remarks.

She told the audience: “It’s true, childcare is a big consideration. My partner, her parents died when she was a teenager; mine aren’t in a position to help. Her brother and his family are in Ireland, my sister and her family live in England, so we are literally on our own. We will be doing this.”

She said she would take off a few months following the birth, with her partner taking off another couple before they introduce formal childcare.

She continued: “Even just sorting out the bills now is going to be a consideration for us and we are going to have to work it out. We will find a way to make it work, and families right across Scotland find a way to make it work, but the suggestion that it is not a worry is a nonsense: it is worry for everybody. It doesn’t matter what job you are doing.”