The Scottish Conservatives have appointed Baroness Mobarik to fill the party's vacant seat in the European Parliament.

The role was left unfilled are the party's sole MEP Ian Duncan quit Brussels to join the House of Lords and become a junior minister in the UK Government.

Baroness Mobarik described her appointment as a "great honour".

The electorate votes for parties instead of individual candidates in European Parliament elections.

Following the election, seats are proportionally distributed to the parties and given to candidates ranked internally by party members.

At the last election in 2014, Ian Duncan topped the Conservative list and was followed by former party worker Belinda Don with Baroness Noshenna in third.

Instead of awarding the seat to Ms Don, party bosses have overlooked her for the Conservative peer.

The move was called a "complete stitch-up" by SNP MEP Alyn Smith and he said the appointment "stinks of cronyism."

Don has served the party with a writ and threatened to take further legal action if she was not selected as Lord Duncan's successor.