Douglas Ross: Give voters the power to recall MSPs

DOUGLAS Ross has called for Holyrood to bring in a procedure to allow voters to recall their MSPs.

In a speech to the Onward think tank, the Scottish Conservative leader proposed a cross party commission to “reassess” the “effectiveness of the Scottish Parliament”.

He said allowing voters to force a by-election would be “important in ensuring continued belief in our democracy”.

“This is another change made years ago at Westminster and contemplated at Holyrood but never taken forward,” he added.

Ross also called for the Lord Advocate’s roles as both public prosecutor and the government chief legal advisor to be separated, and for Holyrood to be given full parliamentary privilege, allowing MSPs to speak freely without fear of prosecution.

On the subject of voters recalling their MSPs, he said: “Just this year we've seen the scandal of a disgraced former minister, remaining as an MSP, earning more than £100,000 and failing to represent his constituents.

“So, we will bring forward proposals to allow voters to recall MSPs in exceptional circumstances.”

In his speech, which raised some of the difficulties faced by the Holyrood committee investigating the government over the harassment complaints made against Alex Salmond, Ross said the structure in parliament had given “the SNP all the cards it needs to frustrate the opposition”.

He said: “It's time to shatter the comfortable illusion that Scottish democracy is superior and accept it can and should be improved, that we look to practice elsewhere, that includes even Westminster for inspiration.

“That we reassess after more than 20 years the effectiveness of the Scottish Parliament and empower it with the tools it needs to properly scrutinise government.”

His other proposals included passing responsibility for the scrutiny of ministerial behaviour over to the Standards Committee, rather than the independent panel on the ministerial code.

Ross also urged the Scottish Parliament to follow Westminster's lead and introduce elected chairs for committees.

He said the change in the Commons a decade ago had “encouraged greater independence for the committee system to challenge the government”.

Elsewhere in the speech, he claimed it was "clear as day to any objective person” that Nicola Sturgeon had misled parliament and broken the ministerial code.  The First Minister denies the claims.

In the Commons, if an MP is convicted of an offence and sentenced to be imprisoned, or if they are convicted of making false or misleading Parliamentary allowance claims, or if they are suspended from the House for 10 sitting days by the committee of standards, then their constituents can demand a recall petition

If 10 per cent of eligible registered voters then that petition within six weeks, a by-election is triggered.

In the six years that the procedure has been in place there have been three petitions, two of which have led to byelections.

Derek Mackay resigned as finance secretary last year after sending messages to a schoolboy he befriended on social media.

Police were asked to investigate the messages but later confirmed Mackay would not face prosecution, saying “there is nothing to suggest an offence has been committed”. The MSP has kept a low profile ever since.