MSPs reject plan to allow voters to remove them

MSPs have rejected legislation that would have given voters the power to effectively sack them.

The Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill would have allowed parliamentarians to be thrown out by local voters if they were suspended from Holyrood for a minimum of 10 days or sentenced to less than a year in jail.

But the legislation, brought forward by Reform's Graham Simpson, was voted down by the SNP and the Greens, while the Scottish Conservatives abstained.

Simpson described the decision as a "missed opportunity" that would be viewed poorly by voters.

The bill, which comfortably passed a stage one vote on its general principles, would have introduced a recall system similar to the one in use at Westminster.

Under current rules, Holyrood parliamentarians automatically lose their seat if they are given a custodial sentence of 12 months or more.

But unlike at Westminster, where MPs can be removed by local voters, there is no recall mechanism in the Scottish Parliament.

Parliamentary business minister Graeme Dey said that while the SNP government strongly supports the introduction of a recall system, too much was unknown about potential changes to Holyrood's complaints and sanctions process, which is currently being reviewed.

He said the sanctions regime and any recall mechanism needed to be considered together and suggested this should be revisited in the next parliament.

Meanwhile, Scottish Conservative MSP Sue Webber said the bill was "not tough enough," and would have "failed to turf out" former finance secretary Derek Mackay – who refused to attend parliament after it emerged he had exchanged messages with a teenage boy.

An amendment by Webber that would have seen the removal of MSPs who do not attend parliament either in person or digitally for six months or more was rejected.

The bill was backed by Labour and the Lib Dems.

Scottish Labour's business manager, Martin Whitfield, accused the SNP of "putting the party before country" in rejecting the bill.

He added: "The people of Scotland can draw their own conclusions about why the SNP might not want them to have the power to recall MSPs who are not fit for office.

"Last week, the SNP voted against strengthening freedom of information and now they are voting to stop their MSPs from being accountable to voters – it is an insult to the people who elected them.

"It's clearer than ever that John Swinney and his MSPs will do whatever it takes to dodge scrutiny and accountability."

Business in the chamber had to be suspended for a time after a stand-off between the presiding officer, Alison Johnstone, and Conservative MSP Douglas Ross.

The former Tory leader refused to leave the debating chamber after he was ordered out for questioning Johnstone's impartiality.

Security guards tried to intervene but he refused to back down. Johnstone expressed displeasure that the authority of the chair was not being respected, but told MSPs she would not let the actions of one politician disrupt business for the rest of them, and allowed the vote to proceed.

For constituency MSPs to be recalled (removed), 10% of eligible voters in their area would have been required to back a recall petition – mirroring the process at Westminster.

A regional MSP would lose their seat if a majority of eligible voters in their region voted to recall them.

They would be replaced by the person who was next on their party's candidate list at the previous election.

If it was an independent MSP, their seat would lie vacant until the next election.

Initially, the bill proposed that MSPs sentenced to more than six months in prison would automatically lose their seat, as would those who had not physically attended parliament for six months without good reason.

However, both of those provisions were removed at stage two of the bill's journey through parliament.

At Westminster, constituents can remove their MP via a recall petition if they have been sentenced to jail, suspended from the Commons or if they misled parliament about expenses.

The mechanism was used to eject former SNP MP Margaret Ferrier from her Rutherglen constituency after she broke Covid lockdown restrictions.

The Welsh government has also tabled a bill that would create a recall system in the Senedd.

Calls to set up a similar mechanism at Holyrood intensified last year amid a scandal surrounding former health secretary Michael Matheson and an £11,000 data bill racked up on his parliamentary iPad while he was on a family holiday to Morocco.

After initially telling MSPs he had only used the device to do constituency work, Matheson later told parliament that his sons had used it to watch football.

Matheson, who resigned from government and apologised to parliament, was given a record Holyrood ban of 27 sitting days, with his salary withdrawn for 54 days.