Liam McArthur, Ash Regan and Graham Simpson among nominations for Holyrood Political Awards
Liam McArthur, Ash Regan and Graham Simpson are among those shortlisted for this year's Holyrood Political Awards.
The trio of MSPs are on the shortlist for MSP of the Year.
Last month, McArthur’s assisted dying legislation passed stage one. It is the third time legislation of its kind has been brought before the Scottish Parliament, with the two previous attempts falling at the first hurdle.
Regan introduced the Unbuyable bill last month. If passed, it will introduce new laws to criminalise the purchase of sex, decriminalise its sale and provide support to women and men exiting prostitution.
Simpson introduced the historic Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill, bringing about the end of dual mandates at the Scottish Parliament. It became an Act in January.
Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, is also nominated alongside Scottish Greens leadership candidate Gillian Mackay and Labour MSP Paul O’Kane in the One to Watch category.
With Flynn already a well-known face in the halls of Westminster, the MP aims to swap London for Edinburgh after the Scottish Parliament election in May next year, and there are suggestions he could also take up a ministerial role if the SNP forms the next government.
Other awards include Speech of the Year, which McArthur – who delivered an emotional speech during the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill Stage One debate – is also nominated for, alongside Labour's Colin Smyth and the SNP's Elena Whitham.
Nominees for Backbencher of the Year include Fergus Ewing, who announced earlier this month he will be running as an independent candidate at the next Scottish Parliament election, and Graham Simpson and fellow Conservative Tess White.
Mandy Rhodes, editor of Holyrood magazine, and chair of the judging panel, said that the judges for this year's awards had a tough job whittling down the nominations across all categories into the final shortlists.
She said: “There was some robust discussion had across all the nominations and particularly in the 'Backbencher of the Year' and 'Speech of the Year' there were some very powerful arguments for all the final nominees making the contest very close indeed.
“The tone of the Holyrood Political Awards is always on the side of goodwill and humour and the judges tend to avoid shortlisting party leaders, given the platform that they already have, so I am delighted to see such a politically diverse group of MSPs shortlisted for MSP of the Year this year, which reflects some of the cross-party work that has gone on in this last parliamentary session.
“Congratulations to all those shortlisted and I look forward to hearing the winners announced on the night.”
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