MSPs to decide on plan to allow voters to remove them

MSPs are to decide whether to give voters the power to effectively sack them.

Holyrood parliamentarians automatically lose their seat if they are given a custodial sentence of 12 months or more.

But unlike at Westminster, where MPs can be removed by local voters, there is no recall mechanism in the Scottish Parliament.

Under a members' bill tabled by Reform's Graham Simpson, MSPs could be recalled if they are either suspended from Holyrood for a minimum of 10 sitting days or sentenced to less than a year in jail.

The Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill comfortably passed a stage one vote on its general principles.

However, MSPs have since raised concerns about the practicalities of the proposals, with a final vote scheduled for 18:00.

For constituency MSPs to be recalled (removed), 10% of eligible voters in their area would be required to backed a recall petition – mirroring the process at Westminster.

A regional MSP would lose their seat if a majority of eligible voters in their region voted to recall them.

They would be replaced by the person who was next on their party's candidate list at the previous election.

If it was an independent MSP, their seat would lie vacant until the next election.

Initially, the bill proposed that MSPs sentenced to more than six months in prison would automatically lose their seat, as would those who had not physically attended parliament for six months without good reason.

However, both of those provisions were removed at stage two of the bill's journey through parliament.

At Westminster, constituents can remove their MP via a recall petition if they have been sentenced to jail, suspended from the Commons or if they misled parliament about expenses.

The mechanism was used to eject former SNP MP Margaret Ferrier from her Rutherglen constituency after she broke Covid lockdown restrictions.

The Welsh government has also tabled a bill that would create a recall system in the Senedd.

Calls to set up a similar mechanism at Holyrood intensified last year amid a scandal surrounding former health secretary Michael Matheson and an £11,000 data bill racked up on his parliamentary iPad while he was on a family holiday to Morocco.

After initially telling MSPs he had only used the device to do constituency work, Matheson later told parliament that his sons had used it to watch football.

Matheson, who resigned from government and apologised to parliament, was given a record Holyrood ban of 27 sitting days, with his salary withdrawn for 54 days.