Chamber and committees

Again, I give my apologies to members I have been unable to call.

Thank you. That concludes urgent questions. I apologise again to members whom I was unable to call.

Members might wish to note that the next meeting of Parliament will be at 2 pm on Tuesday 18 May, to select a nominee for appointment as First Minister.

I close this first meeting of the sixth session of the Scottish Parliament.

I appreciate that this is a very important matter, but we have a lot of questions to get through and I would like to involve as many members as possible. I call Anas Sarwar, to be followed by Annie Wells. I would appreciate concise questions and responses where possible.

My apologies to members who have not been called.

Good morning. The next item of business is the election of two Deputy Presiding Officers. The nominees are Clare Adamson, Claire Baker, Jeremy Balfour, James Dornan, Annabelle Ewing, Rhoda Grant, Bill Kidd, Liam McArthur, Stuart McMillan and Edward Mountain.

The election shall again proceed in accordance with temporary rule 1 of standing orders, with voting procedures the same as those used in the election of the Presiding Officer. If no member receives an overall majority in the first round of voting, there will be subsequent rounds.

The same procedure will be followed for the election of the second Deputy Presiding Officer. When the first Deputy Presiding Officer is elected, voting rounds will begin for the second Deputy Presiding Officer, involving all candidates who were unsuccessful in the election of the first Deputy Presiding Officer.

To ensure everyone’s safety in line with Covid-19 protocols, I ask all members to put on their face coverings now, unless they have a medical exemption.

I declare the election of the first Deputy Presiding Officer open. The clerks will begin distributing the ballot papers.

Members voted by secret ballot.

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.