Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock MP Allan Dorans did not vote in the recent motion expressing confidence in the Government at the House of Commons last week.

The politician was unable to attend the meeting in London due to ill health.

However, Mr Dorans has since said that he would have voted against the motion of confidence in the government, if he had been able to travel to London.

Unusually, the vote was tabled by the government because it refused to accept the wording of a Labour motion after Boris Johnson announced he was staying on as Prime Minister until the Autumn.

MPs were asked whether “this House has confidence in Her Majesty’s government”.

The motion passed 349-238. In total, 37 of Allan Dorans’ SNP colleagues voted against it, and Mr Dorans would’ve made it 38 if he could.

He said: “Unfortunately, I was not in Parliament for the debate and vote on Monday as I was unable to travel to London due to severe lower back pain over the weekend.

“Had I been able to do so, I would have voted against the Motion of Confidence in the Government .

“The outcome of the vote was a foregone conclusion with all Conservative MPs being subjected to a three line Whip and with a working majority in the House of Commons of 78 seats, the Motion was always going to be passed in favour of the Government.

“It is inconceivable to me how anyone can possibly have confidence in a Government which has presided over the worst cost of living crisis in living memory, record inflation, numerous allegations of sleaze and corruption including procurement of personal protective equipment, partying whilst people died of Covid, and who are currently in the middle of a toxic leadership contest.

“All of this highlights the need for Scotland to take a different political path and be an independent country.”

After the vote, Boris Johnson defended his time in charge, saying: “A pandemic that was global, whose origins we do not fully understand but were nothing to do with the British people, and if anything the result of distant misbehaviour involving bats or pangolins, and this government never gave up through wave after wave.”