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26 February 2025
Should voters be able to recall MSPs? And if so, what criteria should be used? These are just two of the questions Holyrood’s Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee is asking and it wants to hear from voters across the country.
The work is part of the Committee’s consideration of the Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill. The Bill, which was introduced by Graham Simpson MSP, proposes that systems should be introduced for the recall and removal of MSPs.
Now the Committee is asking whether these measures are generally supported and how the detail of the Bill would work in practice.
The recall process would be triggered if an MSP was excluded from Parliament for 10 sitting days or received a prison sentence of less than six months. This would then mean that constituents in the constituency or region the MSP represents would be able to sign a petition calling for the MSP to lose their seat.
The Bill also proposes new grounds for the removal of MSPs, including when a Member has not attended the Parliament in person for 180 days without a good reason for their non-attendance.
Speaking as the Committee launched its call for views, the Committee Convener Martin Whitfield MSP said:
“According to the support documents accompanying this Bill, it has at its heart the integrity of the democratic process and the aim of improving accountability. Our Committee want to know what effect these proposals would have in practice.
“The recall process suggested within the Bill broadly mirrors the now well established process at Westminster. But the two electoral systems are not alike and a simple copy and paste approach will not work. So, we want to hear from people in constituencies and regions across Scotland about whether they feel that these measures, and the suggested approaches would work.”
The Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill was introduced by Graham Simpson MSP in December 2024.
Part 1 of the Bill makes provision for the introduction of a process for recall of MSPs. The Bill sets out the criteria to trigger the recall petition process.
The Policy Memorandum sets out that Mr Simpson has “sought to mirror, in general terms, the policy intentions and processes of the recall of MPs Act 2015”.
As the electoral system for the Scottish Parliament differs to that for the UK Parliament, the Bill proposes different mechanisms for the recall of constituency and regional MSPs and for the filling of any vacancies arising if the threshold for recall is met.
Part 2 of the Bill makes provision for the automatic removal of MSPs who receive a prison sentence of six to 12 months or who do not attend the Parliament in person for 6 months and who do not have a good reason for non-attendance.
Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill
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Simon.Gallaher@parliament.scot