Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Official Report 864KB pdf

Point of Order

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I would like to raise a point of order in relation to rule 3.1 of standing orders, which is the rule that outlines the duties of the Presiding Officer and the Deputy Presiding Officers. Subparagraph 1(d) of that rule says that the Presiding Officer shall

“represent the Parliament in discussions and exchanges with any parliamentary, governmental, administrative or other body, whether within or outwith the United Kingdom.”

Presiding Officer, particularly with regard to recent events in Gaza, which have involved considerable loss of life, I would be interested to know whether you took the opportunity to raise the issue of justice for Palestine when you met the Israeli ambassador today.

I thank Mr Finnie for giving me advance notice of his point of order. As he and, I hope, other members will be aware, one of my duties as Presiding Officer is to welcome all ambassadors on behalf of the Scottish Parliament. It is the case that I do not divulge the nature or content of the courtesy calls that we have.