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Chamber and committees

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 6 July 2025
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Displaying 3405 contributions

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Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee [Draft]

Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 19 June 2025

Sue Webber

We have also heard that the recall thresholds that have been set out in the bill could make it harder to recall regional MSPs than constituency MSPs—although your bill is trying to achieve parity—and constituency MSPs who represent larger urban areas compared with those who represent rural areas. It is all about the volume of people. Have you considered whether changes are needed to address that?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee [Draft]

Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 19 June 2025

Sue Webber

Okay. I will see whether I can think of anything other than just accepting it. If you are in a region that has multiple members on the list representing that region, our party certainly splits things up a little bit and we all focus on a few areas rather than covering everything. If we are talking about region-wide recall, it goes back to an individual’s awareness of who their regional MSPs might be—it could be minimal.

Thinking back to your response to the other question, I am not certain of awareness in a region of how far down the rankings an MSP such as Jamie Greene, as an example, was the last time. All of that links to awareness and something that connects with the voters so that they are aware of what is going on. Do you have any thoughts about that? It is quite a broad question.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee [Draft]

Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 19 June 2025

Sue Webber

That is a fair point, Mr Simpson.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee [Draft]

Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 19 June 2025

Sue Webber

Mr Simpson, how do you respond to the concerns that have been expressed to the committee about the financial and administrative burden of the proposed regional recall petition process, as well as to some of the voter confusion issues that have been raised and put to us?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee [Draft]

Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 19 June 2025

Sue Webber

Yes, and I know that Ms Roddick might talk about that later.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee [Draft]

Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 19 June 2025

Sue Webber

Circling back to the regional list, we are elected because of the party and, as you said, nobody really knows who is on that list or their ranking. Some might say that how that happens is quite a dark art.

When people have voted for a party and never once for an individual—they have only ever voted for the party that is on that second part of the ballot that has so many of us in it—can you not see why there needs to be a clear and straightforward mechanism when someone comes off that list because they have switched party?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee [Draft]

Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 19 June 2025

Sue Webber

That addresses the financial point, but we have also heard a lot about the administrative burden on local authorities. Do you have any thoughts on that?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee [Draft]

Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 19 June 2025

Sue Webber

Colleagues will ask about that six-week period later on.

On voter confusion, I am not speaking ill of voters, but we have many different electoral systems in Scotland, and your proposed system would be yet another. What are your comments on that?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee [Draft]

Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 19 June 2025

Sue Webber

Yes. You have said that a few times.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee [Draft]

Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 19 June 2025

Sue Webber

It is human nature.