Boris Johnson has insisted he is "working very hard" with his Tory colleagues in Scotland despite their calls for him to quit.

       The Prime Minister on Monday visited Rosyth as part of what has been dubbed a "levelling up tour" of the UK.

       He did not meet with Douglas Ross, the Scottish Tory leader, who maintains Mr Johnson must resign over Downing Street parties during lockdown.

       But Mr Johnson claimed that he was "working very hard with my colleagues in Scotland on our joint agenda of uniting and levelling up and delivering for the people of the whole UK".

       The location of Rosyth was chosen for the visit as it is a possible location for one of two Scottish freeports, which will be established following a deal between the UK and Scottish Governments.

       Mr Johnson insisted he was not allowed to reveal the location of the two freeports, which will be decided following a bidding process, but said they could "genuinely drive huge numbers of jobs".

       Mr Ross called for Mr Johnson to stand down last month, after he admitted attending a social event in the Downing Street garden, provoking an unprecedented rift between the Scottish and UK parties.

       The Scottish leader came under attack from some of the Prime Minister’s allies, with Jacob Rees-Mogg branding Mr Ross a "lightweight", which delighted the Tories’ opponents at Holyrood.

       However, Mr Johnson later sent Mr Ross a handwritten birthday card and the Prime Minister has been invited to address the Scottish Tory conference next month.

       Iain Stewart, the Scotland Office minister, denied that Mr Johnson was "persona non grata" with the Scottish Tories on Monday and said it was not unusual for him not to meet Mr Ross when visiting the country.

       "Douglas Ross and the Prime Minister are in regular contact," he said. "I don’t know whether diaries didn’t line up."

       Kirsten Oswald, the SNP's deputy Westminster leader, said: "It speaks volumes that this lame-duck Prime Minister spent most of his flying visit running scared of the people of Scotland - including his own Tory party colleagues, who are still calling for his resignation.

       "People in Scotland are looking on in horror at the state of this arrogant, dishonest, out-of-touch Tory Government but we need more than just a change of Prime Minister."