Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Thursday, April 20, 2017

Official Report 957KB pdf

Points of Order

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I want to raise a point of order under rule 7.3, on respect to other members. Under the circumstances, I will not name the member who has caused me to do this, because the member has already made fulsome and proper apology. However, I want to make clear for the record and for future reference for members that, if a member is to accuse another member of being absent, they should properly have made inquiries as to the reason why that person is absent, so that they do not infringe rule 7.3.

I think that the point was noted during the debate by the member concerned, but I thank Mr Stevenson for raising that point.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I also wish to raise a point of order under rule 7.3. Today at First Minister’s question time, Ruth Davidson said in relation to the 0.7 per cent aid commitment:

“Theresa May herself gave the commitment to the aid budget when she was at the Department for International Development’s East Kilbride headquarters, which administers aid all around the world.”—[Official Report, 20 April 2017; c 10.]

However, the speech that the Prime Minister gave that day gives no such commitment, so why did Ruth Davidson mislead Parliament? Will the United Kingdom Tory manifesto commit to 0.7 per cent, as Ruth Davidson seems to be claiming, or will she now take the opportunity to correct the record?

I thank Ms Haughey for raising that point of order. It is important that all members treat each other with courtesy and respect. In this case, Ms Haughey is asking me to intervene in a matter that will be settled during the general election debate. I encourage Ms Haughey and Ms Davidson to resolve the matter in the general election debate and not in the parliamentary chamber if possible.