Sexual harassment complaints against SNP MPs upheld

Sexual harassment complaints against two SNP MPs are reported to have been upheld by a Westminster standards authority.

The Sunday Times reported that former SNP chief whip Patrick Grady, and frontbencher Patricia Gibson, have both been informed by Westminster’s independent complaints and grievance scheme that complaints against them have been upheld, and have asked for their responses. The complaints have now been referred to an independent expert panel, which can recommend suspension or expulsion from the House of Commons.

Glasgow North MP Grady resigned from his role as chief whip in March 2021 after being accused of groping two researchers at an SNP Christmas party in 2016, as well as another SNP staff member in a further incident at a London pub. In March 2021, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed she knew of “a concern, but not a formal complaint” against Grady.

North Ayrshire and Arran MP Gibson, and the SNP’s Westminster housing spokeswoman, was accused of making inappropriate comments to a staff member in Westminster’s Strangers’ Bar in January 2020.

Patricia Gibson MP

The Scottish Conservative whip, Stephen Kerr MSP, said: “It appears that Nicola Sturgeon’s party has yet again failed victims of alleged sexual misconduct.

“The SNP has shown a complete lack of transparency and has tried to brush these horrendous incidents under the carpet in the hope people will forget about them.

“The victims deserve better than to be treated as an afterthought by the SNP which continues to be engulfed in sleaze.”

The Liberal Democrats have called for the SNP to withdraw the whip from both MPs, with a spokesperson saying: “The SNP have been vocal about misconduct on the Conservative benches, they should recognise that the same standards they demand of others ought to apply to them.”

The SNP has been contacted for comment.