Douglas Ross reignites spat with Presiding Officer after being booted out of Scottish Parliament
The former Scottish Conservatives leader said he had been denied a meeting with Alison Johnstone following a row.
Douglas Ross has reignited a spat with Holyrood's Presiding Officer after he was last week booted out of Parliament for heckling.
The former Scottish Conservatives leader returned to the debating chamber today after he was temporarily excluded by Alison Johnstone for breaking strict rules on when MSPs can make interventions.
The row led to the Tories accusing the Presiding Officer of being "blatantly biased" against Unionist politicians.
But Johnstone insisted today she always acted "in a neutral manner".
In tense scenes, Ross stood up to say he had since requested a meeting with the Presiding Officer to discuss last week's events.
The MSP had been asked to leave the weekly session of First Minister's Questions after he could be heard heckling John Swinney.
A spokesman for the Parliament later said Ross had been given repeated warnings over his conduct in the chamber.
Questioning Johnstone from the floor today, the Tory politician said: "Following your decision to remove me from the chamber last Thursday, I have made several requests to meet with you to discuss this. So far you have refused all requests.'
The Presiding Officer then said Ross' contribution was "not a point of order" and asked him to sit down.
The Conservative MSP immediately raised another point of order, saying that under parliament's rules 'you must act in a neutral manner'.
After the pair talked over each other, Johnstone insisted: 'I have acted in a neutral manner. I have addressed the point of order on Thursday.
'I am not continuing to have a dialogue about when I am meeting you in the chamber.'
She went on to say she had not specifically received a request to meet with Mr Ross, stating: 'I treat all members equally.'
The Presiding Officer rebuffed further attempts from Ross to raise points of order, saying she had to move on to other business.
First Minister John Swinney said last week Johnstone has a difficult job and 'always acts impartially' in upholding the Parliament's rules.
But the Tories warned they would be 'seeking discussions to reiterate that the Presiding Officer should not show blatant bias'.
Ross last week told reporters he represented many farmers who were left frustrated by the First Minister ducking questions.
'This is an issue that is extremely important to those individuals who are in that sector and their families and their communities, therefore they deserve to hear those answers,' he said.
'But for a member to be expelled from the chamber with no warning at all, I think may be unprecedented.'
He added: "There have been concerns outwith this building about how [Johnstone] treats Conservative MSPs compared to government ministers, Green MSPs for example,' he said.
'And since this happened, I've had senior members from other parties saying that Alison Johnstone risks losing support within the chamber for her actions.'
The former Tory leader said Holyrood was 'not a library'. He continued: "There is going to be some discussion from the benches around the respective party spokespeople. That is what people watch politics for."
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