FMQs: Douglas Ross ejected from chamber by presiding officer

BBC News

7 days ago

Update:
Date: 13:15 BST
Title: FMQs: The headlines
Content: That brings an end to a lively First Minister's Questions. If you're just joining us here's what you missed:
That's all from the live page team today. The editor was Mary McCool. Megan Bonar and Craig Hutchison were the writers.
Update:
Date: 13:01 BST
Title: Swinney commits to securing financial future of Dundee university
Content: Lib Dem MSP Willie Rennie asks about the lack of progress on
financial recovery for the University of Dundee, which is cutting hundreds of jobs due to a £35m deficit.
'This has been agonising for university staff, a cloud has been
hanging over them since November,' he said.
The first minister says the university is an autonomous institution,
and no request from the Scottish Funding Council has been received.
Michael Marra MSP also asks about the issue, he asks Swinney to
commit to a voluntary severance scheme being put in place by next week.
Swinney replies that he cannot commit to that because he would
be breaking the law by telling an independent institution how to go about business.
He does however give his 'absolute commitment to securing
the future of the university of Dundee.'
Update:
Date: 12:57 BST
Title: Swinney says government will consider ecocide bill
Content: The legislation would introduce tougher sanctions for people who cause pollution in Scotland
Monica Lennon is the next MSP to enter the fray and she asks what the Scottish government is doing to maintain its policy aim of keeping pace with the EU on environmental protection.
Swinney replies his government intends to remain aligned with the EU when it is possible to do so.
The Labour MSP refers to her Ecocide (Scotland) Bill which contains proposals for a new law which could see the bosses of major polluters jailed for up to 20 years.
"This is Scotland's time to act," adds Lennon who asks if the FM agrees with her bill's aims.
John Swinney compliments Monica Lennon for her bill and he says the government will consider it and will have further dialogue with the Labour MSP.
Update:
Date: 12:47 BST
Title: What's the background to Findlay's points on net zero?
Content: Kevin KeaneBBC Scotland environment correspondent
The Climate Change Committee says emissions need to fall by 57% in five years
A word on the issue the Tories raised at the beginning of FMQs - climate change.
Independent experts have proposed a new set of targets to tackle climate change in Scotland over the next 20 years.
Annual targets were abandoned by the Scottish government last year after repeatedly being missed – but ministers retained the pledge to reach net zero by 2045.
The Climate Change Committee (CCC) says that to meet that goal, emissions need to fall by an average of 57% over the next five years and by 69% to 2035, when compared with 1990 levels.
The Scottish government says it will consider the report's recommendations carefully but is expected to adopt the targets in the coming weeks.
The government had set its original climate change targets in 2019 – which included reducing emissions by 75% by 2030.
Read more here.
Update:
Date: 12:45 BST
Title: Ross questions neutrality of speaker after ejection
Content: Philip SimBBC Scotland political correspondent
Football referee Douglas Ross is no stranger to a red card.
But he is arguing that he should have been shown a yellow
before he was ordered out of the Holyrood chamber today.
Mr Ross told BBC Scotland he struggled to accept that the
presiding officer was acting neutrally, and that she allowed SNP and Green MSPs
to behave in a way that she did not extend to Conservative members.
He said he had 'serious questions about the conduct of the
presiding officer', and that he would be seeking to speak with Alison Johnstone
and her officials about the decision.
Update:
Date: 12:41 BST
Title: Douglas Lumsden told to 'desist' by speaker during SNP question
Content: It's a rowdy one today.
Douglas Ross' Tory colleague Douglas Lumsden is also given a
slap on the wrist for shouting from his seat during a question from the SNP's Christine
Grahame.
'Where you trying to attract attention?' the speaker asks as
she tells him to desist.
Grahame follows up on the play parks issue, saying after the Covid pandemic "when children were isolated for so long", plans for renewals is "an
excellent project that liberates them".
Swinney says his colleague makes an "incredibly powerful point".
Update:
Date: 12:39 BST
Title: Tory Stephen Kerr 'too excited for words' over play park renewal
Content: Scottish Tory MSP Stephen Kerr says the Scottish government has committed £60m to renew every play park in Scotland, but there are reports that less than half of the funding has been spent.
The first minister highlights £35m allocated to local government since September 2021.
He argues the £60m commitment will be met by his government.
"That sounds like another Swinney broken promise to me," retorts Kerr.
The chamber becomes raucous again as Kerr argues that the SNP government adopts gimmicks and fails to deliver.
"I think Stephen Kerr needs to go to a play park to get rid of some of his excess energy," jokes the first minister to some laughter from his backbenches.
"He seems just a little bit too excited for words."
Update:
Date: 12:36 BST
Title: An unusual - but not the first - removal of an MSP
Content: Philip SimBBC Scotland political correspondent
I think Douglas Ross might be the first MSP to be kicked out
of the chamber by Alison Johnstone.
But it's not unheard of – his Tory colleague Oliver Mundell was ordered out
by Ken Macintosh in 2020 for claiming Nicola Sturgeon had lied to parliament
over the Salmond inquiry.
Back in 2015, Labour's James Kelly was booted out by Tricia
Marwick in a classic row about a point of order which she contended wasn't a
point of order relating to the UK Trade Union Bill.
Ms Johnstone has a reputation as a fairly mild-mannered
presiding officer.
But she has clashed quite frequently with Mr Ross in
particular in recent weeks, with the former Tory leader always keen to pick
away at the government's record – and the chances MSPs have to interrogate it
in parliament.
Update:
Date: 12:35 BST
Title: Moment Douglas Ross is told to leave the chamber
Content: The former Scottish Conservative leader is asked twice by Alison Johnstone to leave the chamber - without warning - after talking over the first minister.
This video can not be played
Watch the moment Douglas Ross is excluded from the chamber at FMQs
Update:
Date: 12:33 BST
Title: Swinney 'cherishes' Scotland's natural environment
Content: As the appeal remains live he can't comment on the Flamingo Land proposal, replies Swinney, and he adds it is subject to 49 planning conditions.
The first minister explains the reporter is required to make his decision on the planning merits of the case.
Harvie argues the first minister is not even attempting to acknowledge the anger about this "unnecessary, unwanted, destructive" development
The Scottish Greens co-leader asks if Swinney learned nothing from his "mistake" over Trump's golf course development.
Swinney insists he values and cherishes the natural environment of Scotland.
Update:
Date: 12:31 BST
Title: Opposition to Flamingo Land raised by Harvie
Content: It's now the turn of Patrick Harvie to grill the first minister and he chooses to ask about protest outside parliament today against the Scottish government's intention to approve a resort by Flamingo Land on the shores of Loch Lomond.
The Scottish Greens co-leader says the proposals have been opposed by 155,000 people.
"It's the most unpopular development in the history of the Scottish planning system," he says.
He argues there is still a chance to save Loch Lomond and he calls on the first minister to listen to the objections and recall this decision.
Update:
Date: 12:28 BST
Title: Row on health will continue until election day
Content: Philip SimBBC Scotland political correspondent
This was a paint-by-numbers standard of the Anas Sarwar vs
John Swinney FMQs exchange.
Mr Sarwar loves to bring up NHS waiting times because he
sees it as a great example of the government's handling of public services.
He also frequently has a case study to hand of a patient who
feels let down, to confront the first minister with a real voter.
Mr Swinney meanwhile rarely misses an opportunity to
criticise the record of the UK government, now run by Labour.
He managed to link that back to health services by saying
that any move to restrict immigration would affect the NHS's ability to attract
international workers.
To be honest they have this same exchange most weeks, and
will continue to right up to polling day next May.
Update:
Date: 12:28 BST
Title: Immigration plans will damage NHS - Swinney
Content: Sarwar accuses the first minister of having no plan to fix Scotland's
NHS.
Swinney responds by saying the government has a plan in place
to focus on expanding capacity.
"We are working to make sure we have the staff and the resources in place to address this issue," he says.
He adds that the UK's government's immigration policy will make tackling waiting times "ever more difficult".
Swinney says: "The immigration policies will be damaging to our national health service and we do not want anything to do with them."
Update:
Date: 12:27 BST
Title: Backround: Patients waiting more than two years for specialist appointments
Content: Figures released this week showed that the number of patients waiting more than two years for to see an NHS specialist in Scotland has grown in the past year.
Public Health Scotland said the waiting list for those referred to an outpatient clinic more than two years ago was at the highest level it had ever recorded, with the number more than tripling to 5,262.
Government targets to provide treatment within 12 weeks were also still not being met for thousands of patients, with 24% of waits recorded going on for more than a year, the report found.
More on this story here.
Update:
Date: 12:22 BST
Title: Swinney defends government's actions on NHS
Content: 'Week after week, John Swinney comes to this chamber and apologies.
People don't want to hear sorry, they want treatment,' Sarwar says.
He says thousands are waiting over two years for orthopaedic,
ENT and neurosurgery treatment.
Swinney says the government has made the largest investment in
the NHS that has ever been made and by March had created over 100,000 additional
appointments.
Update:
Date: 12:20 BST
Title: There is a human cost to waiting times - Sarwar
Content: Anas Sarwar is next up - he asks the first minister about new
health statistics showing a growing number of people on NHS waiting lists.
Sarwar says in total there are 860,925 people are on an NHS waiting
list in Scotland, with over 13,000 people waiting over two years.
'There is a human cost', he says as he highlights the case
of a woman who has waited over 100 weeks for surgery for an ovarian cyst.
The first minister apologies to anyone who is on a waiting list
and say the government is committed to tackling 'long waits'.
Update:
Date: 12:19 BST
Title: Swinney accuses the Conservatives of 'cheap political opportunity'
Content: Swinney wraps up on Russel Findlay's questioning saying Brexit has caused incalculable damage to agriculture.
He says the 2045 target is the Scottish Parliament's, not the SNP's.
Swinney accuses the Conservatives of "cheap political opportunity".
Update:
Date: 12:18 BST
Title: Douglas Ross has just become far more memorable than his leader
Content: Philip SimBBC Scotland political correspondent
Russell Findlay ended up being eclipsed by his predecessor
as Tory leader.
Douglas Ross has persistently clashed with the presiding
officer over recent weeks, and it seemed like Alison Johnstone had zero
patience for his heckling today, ordering him out of the chamber without so
much as a warning.
Mr Findlay had been underlining the lack of a big story this
week by leading off on a report published last Wednesday.
He picked out various proposals from the climate change committee's report on carbon budgets, describing various things which the
government has not committed to as 'utter madness'.
But ultimately the government hasn't actually said what it
is going to do, so it was hard for him to pin any particular policy on the
first minister.
And John Swinney seemed determined not to rise to the bait.
His only real political barb was one about Brexit - which
was what prompted Douglas Ross to blow his top.
Ultimately that is going to be a far more memorable moment
than anything prompted by Mr Findlay's questions.
Update:
Date: 12:13 BST
Title: Eating a third less meat is 'utter madness' - Findlay
Content: Prior to Ross' exit from the chamber, Russell Findlay says the number of cattle would need to fall by two million, around 25%, to achieve climate targets.
The Scottish Tory leader says Scots would have to eat one third less meat.
"This is utter madness, it's an act of national self-harm."
John Swinney hits back reiterating his government will consider the proposals in the report.
The Scottish Tory leader continues to look at those proposals, turning to heat pumps saying to meet the target would require 70% of homes to have one.
"That proposal is simply not realistic," adds Findlay, who then calls on the first minister to reject it.
Swinney insists agriculture is always in his priorities and he highlights the impact of Brexit.
This leads to Douglas Ross's ejection.
Update:
Date: 12:08 BST
Title: Former Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross asked to leave chamber
Content: There is a brief pause in proceedings as former Scottish Conservative
leader Douglas Ross is kicked out of the chamber.
The speaker asks him to leave the chamber and tells him not
to return for the rest of the day after raising his voice over the first minister.