Chamber and committees

In this round of voting in the election of the Deputy Presiding Officer, the number of votes cast for each candidate was as follows: Annabelle Ewing 64, Rhoda Grant 16 and Liam McArthur 44. There was one abstention and no spoiled ballots. Accordingly, as Annabelle Ewing received more votes than the total number of votes received by the other candidates, and as more than 25 per cent of members voted, she is elected as Deputy Presiding Officer. Congratulations, Ms Ewing. I look forward to working with you. [Applause.]

As members may know, I have selected three urgent questions to be answered this afternoon. That will follow a brief suspension at the end of the election of the Deputy Presiding Officers. When we get to that item, if a member wishes to ask a supplementary question and they are in either the main hall or the public gallery, they should raise their hand when the relevant question is asked. The clerk will then convey their request to me and will direct them to a part of their location from where they will be able to ask their question, if called.

I believe that Daniel Johnson would like to make a point of order.

The voting period is now open, with the same voting procedure as before. I ask members to put on their face coverings while the clerks distribute the ballot papers and for the duration of the voting period, please.

Members voted by secret ballot.

In this round of voting in the election of the second Deputy Presiding Officer, the number of votes cast for each candidate was as follows: Clare Adamson 7, Claire Baker 9, James Dornan 5, Rhoda Grant 9, Liam McArthur 74 and Stuart McMillan 19. There were no abstentions and no spoiled ballots. Accordingly, as Liam McArthur received more than the total number of votes received by the other candidates, and as more than 25 per cent of members voted, he is elected as the second Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament. I very much look forward to working with him. [Applause.]

I thank each and every candidate who took part in the election.

As members may be aware, we will have an urgent question session this afternoon, and I suspend the meeting until 4 pm, when we will move to that session.

As you would expect, given the interest in the pandemic and its impact on public health, there is a great deal of interest in asking questions. Nonetheless, I will be very grateful if members keep questions and responses as succinct as possible.

Voting in this round of the second Deputy Presiding Officer election is now closed. The clerks will now take the ballot boxes to P1.02, and I invite any scrutineers appointed by the candidates to make their way to P1.02 to observe the counting of ballot papers, while observing social distancing.

In this round of voting in the election of the second Deputy Presiding Officer, the number of votes cast for each candidate was as follows: Clare Adamson 10, Claire Baker 13, Jeremy Balfour 5, James Dornan 9, Rhoda Grant 10, Liam McArthur 45, Stuart McMillan 20 and Edward Mountain 12. I have been notified that Mr Mountain intends to withdraw from the next round of voting. There were no abstentions and no spoiled ballots. The candidate eliminated from this round is Jeremy Balfour.

A further voting round will now begin for the election of the second Deputy Presiding Officer. There will be a short break while ballot papers are printed.

Ask a question, Mr Greene.

Voting in the first round of the election of the first Deputy Presiding Officer is now closed. The clerks will now take the ballot boxes to room P1.02, and I invite any scrutineers appointed by the candidates to make their way to P1.02 to observe the counting of ballot papers, while observing social distancing.

All other members may now remove their face coverings.

In this round of voting in the election of the Deputy Presiding Officer, the number of votes cast for each candidate was as follows: Clare Adamson 9, Claire Baker 13, Jeremy Balfour 10, James Dornan 7, Annabelle Ewing 35, Rhoda Grant 12, Bill Kidd 4, Liam McArthur 16, Stuart McMillan 5 and Edward Mountain 13. There was one abstention and one spoiled ballot paper. Accordingly, as no candidate has received an overall majority of the votes cast and as Bill Kidd received the fewest votes, he is eliminated from the election and a further round will take place with the following candidates: Clare Adamson, Claire Baker, Jeremy Balfour, James Dornan, Annabelle Ewing, Rhoda Grant, Liam McArthur, Stuart McMillan and Edward Mountain.

There will be a short break while ballot papers are printed. I suspend the meeting for five minutes.

I thank Mr Johnson for his point of order. I will not bring forward such a motion today. I am sure that he would agree that it would be potentially unfair and inappropriate to change the election method halfway through proceedings, but I certainly agree that the issue can be considered ahead of the next such election.

We will have a five-minute period during which candidates may notify clerks if they wish to withdraw. After that, we will move on to the election of the second Deputy Presiding Officer.

The candidates for the election of the second Deputy Presiding Officer are Clare Adamson, Claire Baker, Jeremy Balfour, James Dornan, Rhoda Grant, Liam McArthur, Stuart McMillan and Edward Mountain. Bill Kidd has withdrawn from this election.

Voting rounds will now begin, involving all candidates who were unsuccessful in the election of the first Deputy Presiding Officer, as I have just described. There will now be a five-minute suspension while ballot papers are printed.

The voting period is now open, with the same voting procedure as before. I ask members to put on their face coverings while the clerks distribute the ballot papers and for the duration of the voting period, please.

Members voted by secret ballot.

The voting period is now open, with the same voting procedure as before. I ask members please to put on their face coverings while the clerks distribute the ballot papers and for the duration of the voting period.

Members voted by secret ballot.