MSP Ash Regan suspended from Holyrood for two days

Independent MSP Ash Regan has been suspended from Holyrood for two days after being found to have breached the MSP code of conduct.

The Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee at Holyrood recommended the punishment after Ms Regan made public her plans to potentially make a complaint about Green MSP Maggie Chapman.

Ms Regan had taken issue with the Green MSP’s characterisation of last year’s UK Supreme Court decision on sex and gender as a “political attack”.

The former SNP and Alba MSP wrote to Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone in protest before posting the letter on X, falling foul of the code, which states MSPs must not “disclose, communicate or discuss any complaint or intention to make a complaint to or with members of the press or other media” before the end of the process.

Ms Regan did not file an official complaint with parliamentary authorities about Ms Chapman, but the code can still be violated if the intention to make a complaint is made public.

According to the committee, the former minister told the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland she was “expressly reporting a concern, not a complaint” in her letter to the Presiding Officer.

But in a statement read out during a meeting of the committee in December, convener Martin Whitfield said: “The committee is not persuaded by the proposition set forth by Ash Regan that she did not intend to make a complaint.

“The letter includes statements such as ‘formally raising concerns’ and ‘respectfully request that this matter be considered by the relevant parliamentary authorities’.

“The letter also sets out Ash Regan’s view that she considered Maggie Chapman’s ‘remarks to be incompatible with the standards of conduct expected of all MSPs and particularly of those in committee leadership positions’.”

He added: “I propose that the appropriate sanction in this case would be exclusion from meetings of the Parliament and its committees on two sitting days, with those days being a Wednesday and a Thursday.”

Speaking in her own defence, Ms Regan said public trust had been eroded in Holyrood in recent years, adding: “Scots expect their Parliament to act to their values, in their interests.

“Today, many are unfortunately questioning whether we still do that.”

Ms Regan suggested that her suspension, which begins immediately and will see her barred from taking part in proceedings for the rest of the week, could impact on the fate of her proposed Bill to criminalise the purchase of sex.

She added: “I believe that as members of parliament, we shouldn’t fear communicating freely with the public on important matters, matters that they think are important about what is going on in here.

“So the motion before you all this evening, it isn’t just about sanctions for a social media post, it’s about whether we are consistently upholding accountability and maintaining public trust in this institution.”

MSPs voted on Tuesday by 84 votes to 18 with six abstentions to back the recommendation, while an amendment tabled by Ms Regan – which would have seen her face no action – fell.