MSPs will be given a vote on banning double jobbing in the wake of the scandal involving SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn. Tory MSP Graham Simpson will resubmit an amendment to scrap ‘dual mandates’ which could scupper Flynn’s bid to hold down two jobs.
The vote could take place before Christmas.
Flynn is at the centre of a major political backlash over plans to stand for Holyrood in 2026 while keeping his Aberdeen South seat at Westminster.
Simpson tried to amend a Holyrood bill this month which would have clamped down on double jobbing at the next election in eighteen months. He withdrew the plan after SNP Ministers dangled a potential ban in the long term, but Flynn nipped in days later to announce he wanted to double job in 2026.
MSPs believe the SNP Government killed the vote at that point on banning double jobbing to help Flynn. Speaking to the Record, Simpson said he will bring back his amendment:
“Stephen Flynn has helped me to make up my mind on this. Being an MSP is a full time job and anyone lucky enough to have the honour of being elected to the Scottish Parliament should be doing so on that basis. It is wrong that anyone should be able to sit as an MSP and MP at the same time.
“So-called dual mandate has been banned in Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland is an outlier in this and we should end that. Given the outcry over what Stephen Flynn plans to do, I will be re-tabling my amendments to the elections bill which will ban double jobbing. All parties must do the right thing and back this.”
Under the Simpson proposal, MPs elected to Holyrood would be required to stand down from Westminster within eight days.
Flynn intends to go for the SNP nomination in Aberdeen South and North Kincardine seat by challenging sitting MSP Audrey Nicoll. His action has angered SNP MSPs who oppose double jobbing and believe trying to oust a female colleague is a bad look.
In an interview with the BBC, Flynn admitted it is “not a pleasant situation” for him or the MSP he is seeking to replace. He said: “There’s always going to be a strong reaction to someone seeking to do things differently, I’ve experienced this before in politics.”
Flynn added: “All I’m seeking to do is ask the members who vote for us, who ultimately decide who their candidate is going to be, to make a decision.”
The SNP has been critical in recent years of dual mandates and regularly attacked former Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross when he did so.
In a post on X, SNP Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville urged those briefing the press against others in the party to “leave yer ego to the side”. She wrote: “Wee message to everyone who is briefing against folk today either on social media or to journos who are not friends to our party or our cause – stick your papers in if you want to and then get yer walking boots on and help out at a by-election.”
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