Holyrood Presiding Officer 'blatantly biased' against Unionist politicians, claim Tories
Alison Johnstone showed the red card to former SFA match official Douglas Ross during FMQs today.
The Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament has been branded "blatantly biased" against Unionist politicians after she booted Douglas Ross out from FMQs today.
The former Scottish Conservatives leader was ordered to leave Holyrood's debating chamber after he heckled John Swinney when the First Minister was responding to a question.
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.'
Ross said Johnstone should now 'seriously consider her neutral role'.
He 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 at lunch time, 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.
"Now, sometimes to goes beyond the pale and action has to be taken, but I don't recall ever seeing a presiding officer take no action to try to minimise that behaviour or to warn any members before excluding them.
"She reached straight for that option today, which for me raises serious concerns about it. And the speed at which she did it made me almost think it was premeditated. It didn't matter what I did today, I wonder if she was just going to go straight for that.'
Ross argued the environment in the Holyrood chamber is already 'far too sterile' and Ms Johnstone had been having a 'controlling effect' on the chamber in recent weeks and months.
'You've got to look at Alison Johnstone formerly being a Green Party member, saying that she would leave her party allegiances at the door, but taking very different approaches to nationalist politicians who step out of line, compared to unionist politicians who step out of line,' he said.
A Scottish Parliament spokesman said: "The Presiding Officer has warned Mr Ross on repeated occasions recently about his behaviour in the Chamber.
"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."
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