On a point of order, Presiding Officer.
As MSPs, all of us have an obligation to conduct ourselves with integrity, and one of our stated priorities in the Parliament is the promotion of jobs and the economy of Scotland. Any loss of jobs is deeply worrying, not just to those who are directly affected, but to their family members and colleagues, who may face uncertainty in their own jobs.
It is therefore remarkable that a former Scottish National Party minister today appears to gloat that 30 jobs have been lost at the Scotsman group. It is remarkable that the former minister Stewart Stevenson made a direct link between The Scotsman not being a supporter of the SNP’s plans to break up Britain and those job losses. [Interruption.]
Order.
To play politics with the jobs of hard-working Scots brings the Parliament into disrepute.
Mr Stevenson recognised his error of judgment and deleted the offending tweet, but he has not apologised for linking job losses to his constitutional views. Why would an MSP link job losses to the referendum? Is that now the SNP’s position?
The views that Mr Stevenson expressed are shocking and are not compatible with the values of our Parliament. The SNP Government must disassociate itself from those remarks.
I would welcome your guidance, Presiding Officer, on what steps can be taken against Stewart Stevenson for bringing our Parliament into disrepute in that way.
Members will know very well by now, because I have said so a number of times, that the Presiding Officers are not responsible for what members say in the formal proceedings of the Parliament, and we are certainly not responsible for what members choose to say using social media.
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