The Scottish Greens are pushing for members of the House of Lords to be banned from serving as MSPs. Ross Greer is tabling a plan to disqualify peers from doubling jobbing at Holyrood.
Peers are barred from voting in Westminster elections and are not allowed to stand for election to the House of Commons.
Greer, a List MSP for West of Scotland, wants the curb extended to the Scottish Parliament. His proposal, lodged as an amendment to an elections bill going through Holyrood, would block peers from taking office as MSPs.
Labour MSP Katy Clark, otherwise knows as Baroness Clark of Kilwinning, took a “leave of absence” from the Lords after getting elected to Holyrood in 2021. Other peers who have been elected to Holyrood since 1999 are the late Lord James Douglas Hamilton and Labour peers Lord Foulkes and Lord Watson of Invergowrie.
Lord Watson quit Holyrood and was sentenced to 16 months in jail in 2005 for starting a fire in an Edinburgh hotel.
Greer said: “The House of Lords is an antidemocratic and archaic institution. It should be a source of embarrassment to the UK that more than half of Westminster’s lawmakers are completely unelected and unaccountable, including some who quite clearly paid for their peerages with dodgy donations to one party or another.
“The only way you should get to decide on the laws of this country is via a fair election. Every MSP is democratically elected, but there is a clear conflict between this and sitting in the unelected Lords. If a peer wants to serve in Holyrood, they should resign their membership of the Lords first.
“A handful of peers have been elected as MSPs since the Scottish Parliament was reestablished. Most have done a fantastic job of advocating for their constituents and representing their communities. This amendment is not about individuals, it is about democracy and accountability. I hope that MSPs across all parties will put those principles first by supporting my amendment.”
The amendment modifies Section 15 of the Scotland Act 1998 by adding members of the Lords to the list of those disqualified from membership of Holyrood. It also repeals Section 16 of the Act, which currently specifically exempts peers from disqualification.
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