Presiding Officer accused of ‘bias’ as Tory MSP ejected from Holyrood chamber

Holyrood’s Presiding Officer has been accused of “blatant bias” by the Scottish Conservatives after she ordered the party’s former leader out of the chamber during a heated session of First Minister’s Questions.

Douglas Ross was thrown out amid exchanges which saw his successor Russell Findlay challenge First Minister John Swinney to rule out imposing “radical and financially devastating policies” as part of efforts to tackle climate change.

As Tory MSPs heckled the First Minister, Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone intervened to order Mr Ross from the chamber – and barred him for the rest of the day.

She said Mr Ross had “persistently refused” to abide by Holyrood’s standing orders, which make clear MSPs should treat each other courteously.

Ms Johnstone told the Tory: “I would ask you to leave this chamber and you are excluded for the rest of the day.”

Her actions resulted in the Scottish Tories accusing the Presiding Officer of “blatant bias” against them.

A party spokesperson said: “The Presiding Officer has shown a consistent pattern to favour certain parties at the expense of others.

“We will be seeking discussions to reiterate that the Presiding Officer should not show blatant bias.”

Mr Ross told BBC Scotland that Ms Johnstone should “seriously consider her neutral role”.

He claimed Ms Johnstone, who was elected as a Green MSP before taking on the role of Presiding Officer, allows SNP and Green MSPs to behave differently from those from other parties.

“I have serious questions about the conduct of the Presiding Officer,” he said, adding it is “unprecedented” for him to be ordered to leave the chamber without first being issued with a warning.

It came as Mr Findlay demanded answers on whether the Scottish Government would seek to adopt proposals set out by independent experts at the Climate Change Committee, which is suggested as a “pathway” to the country meeting its target of achieving net zero emissions by 2045.

These suggest a “rapid increase” in the number of people driving electric vehicles will be required, while the number of Scots installing heat pumps in their homes instead of systems like gas boilers would also need to “accelerate rapidly”.

Warning there could be “crippling costs to hard-working families and business”, Mr Findlay said to meet the net zero target more than half of Scots would need to “drive electric cars and vans by 2035”.

But he added: “For cars the current figure is just 2.2% and for vans it is less than 1%.”

On heat pumps, he told the First Minister: “Fewer than 1% of Scotland’s homes have a heat pump. To meet the SNP’s 2045 target it would need to reach almost 70%.”

Adding that heat pumps can cost between £8,000 and £15,000 to install, Mr Russell warned: “That proposal is simply not realistic and if it was imposed it would hammer hard-working Scots.”

Mr Findlay also challenged Mr Swinney on proposals in the report for a “cull of two million” cattle and sheep over the next decade – with the Tory saying this would reduce livestock numbers by around 25%.

“This would drive farmers out of business, destroy the rural economy, and put our food security at risk,” he added.

“This is utter madness. It is an act of national self-harm.”

He went on to call on the First Minister to “rule out going ahead with this specific plan”.

Mr Swinney however refused to do so, saying the Scottish Government would “in an orderly fashion, consider the advice of the committee on climate change and set out our own proposals for taking the action that is absolutely necessary”.

The First Minister stressed there had been “parliamentary consensus around the importance of achieving net zero by 2045”, and said the Government will “consider specific proposals, bring those forward and Parliament will have the opportunity to decide whether those proposals should be approved or not”.

But he was clear on the need to act, adding: “What I think is absolutely inescapable is we have got to take action to tackle climate change in our society.

“That is why the Government is absolutely committed to achieving net zero by 2045, because the implication and the consequences of not doing so are very dramatic and very damaging for Scotland and our economy.

“The targets of reaching net zero by 2045 are not the SNP’s, they are Parliament’s, democratically agreed by Parliament because we all recognised the importance of climate action.”

However he said the Conservatives are now “deserting the action that is necessary on climate for cheap political opportunity”.

Mr Swinney added: “This Government will act. This Government will do what it always does, act in the best interests of the people of Scotland and to secure the future of our country.”

The Presiding Officer refused to comment on her decision to exclude Mr Ross when approached by journalists as she left the chamber on Thursday.

A Scottish Parliament spokesperson said Ms Johnstone has “warned Mr Ross on repeated occasions recently about his behaviour in the chamber”.

They said this occurred most recently on May 21, and also on May 8 – when the Presiding Officer told Mr Ross “if I hear you once more, you will leave this chamber” – and on both April 22 and April 3.

The spokesperson said: “Due to his persistent refusal to respect the rules of Parliament, the member was asked to leave the chamber. This suspension is for the remainder of the day.”