Voters must be able to sack MSPs despite cost, says Simpson

The Herald Scotland

19-06-2025

His remarks came after legal academics warned the draft law could deliver 'the worst of all worlds'.
READ MORE
Currently, MSPs can only be removed from office if sentenced to more than 12 months in prison.
Mr Simpson said the system was 'absurd'.
'If you contrast that to what happens in other workplaces, if an employee repeatedly or seriously breaches their company's code of conduct, they could be sacked.
'If an employee just did not attend their place of work without good reason, they could be removed.
'And you would expect that — and if an employee received a relatively short custodial sentence for a criminal offence, that could lead to their dismissal, especially if they are in a senior position.
'And for me, that contrast is quite jarring.'
Mr Simpson raised the case of former Dunfermline MSP Bill Walker.
He was convicted of a course of abusive behaviour against a series of his former partners and was handed a 12-month prison sentence — one day short of the threshold that would have seen him automatically barred from Holyrood.
He initially refused to resign, raising the prospect of parliamentary authorities paying out salary to a politician spending six months in HMP Low Moss.
Mr Simpson's Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill would allow voters to trigger a recall petition if an MSP receives a jail sentence of six months or more, fails to attend Parliament for six months without good reason, or is sanctioned for misconduct.
If at least 10% of constituents sign the petition, the MSP would lose their job and a vote would be held.
For a recalled constituency MSP, this would trigger a by-election. However, for a list MSP, a vote would only be held if they wished to stand again — to decide whether they return. If not, the seat would go to the next person on the party list or remain vacant for independents until the next election.
In evidence to the committee, three Glasgow Caledonian University law lecturers warned that this model risks undermining democratic choice by holding a 'significant democratic event' with no opportunity for voters to select a new candidate.
They suggested instead automatically removing MSPs who breach the thresholds and holding a full by-election open to all parties and candidates.
READ MORE
Mr Simpson said he had wrestled with how best to deal with regional MSPs and admitted parity with constituency members was difficult to achieve under Scotland's hybrid electoral system.
'Those of us who are elected on regional lists — if we are being honest — nobody really knows who they are going to get when they put the cross on that regional list. They just end up with who they end up with.
'Nobody voted for me individually. But if I was to be subject to a recall vote, people would have heard of me, because I have probably done something — and then it is about the individual and their behaviour, or alleged behaviour. So it is not about the party.
'I do not think it is about the individual MSP, and so that individual should, in my view, have the chance to make their case.'
He rejected calls to simplify the process by automatically removing MSPs or skipping the petition stage, saying that 10% of a politician's constituents voting against them was not enough to 'kick somebody out of a Parliament'.
Mr Simpson also rebuffed suggestions that MSPs who switch parties should face automatic re-election.
'I know it is controversial. I do not think it is a crime to switch parties. I am personally not in favour of having a recall in that situation.'
He accepted the legislation would carry administrative and financial burdens, particularly for regional polls, but said: 'It is the price of democracy.'
The legislation was first mooted after SNP MSP Derek Mackay resigned as Finance Secretary when it emerged he had contacted a teenage boy over social media — without knowing his age — and then bombarded him with more than 270 messages.
He called the boy 'cute', invited him to dinner, and asked for their conversations to remain secret.
The behaviour was described as 'predatory' and a textbook example of 'grooming'.
Mr Mackay apologised 'unreservedly' to the boy. He was suspended by the SNP and a party investigation was launched into his behaviour.
He then disappeared from public life on the eve of the Scottish Budget in 2020 and did not return to work at Holyrood after the scandal — but continued to draw a full salary of £64,700 while sitting as an independent MSP for more than a year.
He was also paid an automatic grant of £11,945 for 'loss of ministerial office' and a further £53,725 'resettlement grant' when he left Parliament at the 2021 election.
Financial estimates for Mr Simpson's Bill reckon a regional recall petition could cost more than £1 million, with a potential subsequent regional poll costing a further £1m.
Discussing the financial implications, Mr Simpson said he had sought to reduce costs by keeping the length of the regional recall petition to four weeks rather than six.
He said: 'We do need a recall system in Scotland, and that will come at a cost.'