Holyrood committee seeks voters' views on proposals for sacking MSPs

A Holyrood committee is seeking the views of voters on plans to allow for MSPs to be sacked.

Scottish Conservative MSP Graham Simpson proposed the Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill, which would provide a route for constituents to recall MSPs.

Currently, MSPs can only lose their seats if they are sentenced to 12 months or more in prison, while at Westminster, a recall petition can be initiated if an MP is sent to prison or suspended for 10 sitting days.

Simpson’s Bill would lower the threshold in Holyrood to six months and would allow for a similar petition to be called if the MSP in question has been sentenced to jail or suspended from the Parliament for 10 sitting days.

For a recall petition to be effective, 10% of the MSP’s constituents must sign it, which would result in them losing their seat.

But given the existence of regional MSPs in Scotland, the system cannot simply mirror that of Westminster.

Under the plans, 10% of constituents in three seats making up a region would be required to sign the petition to sack a list MSP.

The Bill also takes aim at MSPs who do not physically attend the Scottish Parliament and would create a mechanism where other elected members can disqualify someone who does not show up for six months without a valid reason.

The Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee at Holyrood has urged voters to express their views on the proposals.

Convener Martin Whitfield said: “According to the support documents accompanying this Bill, it has at its heart the integrity of the democratic process and the aim of improving accountability.

“Our committee want to know what effect these proposals would have in practice.

“The recall process suggested within the Bill broadly mirrors the now well established process at Westminster.

“But the two electoral systems are not alike and a simple copy and paste approach will not work.

“So, we want to hear from people in constituencies and regions across Scotland about whether they feel that these measures, and the suggested approaches would work.”

The call for views will close on April 4.