Keir Starmer backs recall petition to remove rule-breaking MSPs following Michael Matheson scandal
dailyrecord.co.ukKeir Starmer has backed the introduction of a recall mechanism at the Scottish Parliament to remove rule-breaking MSPs.The Labour leader used a visit to Greenock today to claim the scandal surrounding former health secretary Michael Matheson showed “the parallels with the Tories and the SNP are very striking now”.The veteran Nationalist has so far refused to resign as an MSP despite this week being suspended from Holyrood for a record 27-days.Matheson was sanctioned after he tried to claim an £11,000 data roaming bill racked up on his official iPad on expenses.Asked by the Record if Holyrood should now follow Westminster's lead and introduce a recall petition, Starmer accused the SNP of "picking up the Boris Johnson playbook.""The parallels between the Tories and the SNP are very striking now," he told a packed room full of party activists and journalists. "You've got chaos and division, you've got unelected leader after unelected leader, and now on standards in public life, you've got the SNP picking up the Boris Johnson playbook."That's how striking the examples are.
As Anas has said, there should be a recall petition. It's worked well in our parliament, and we've had a number of by-elections - which we've very much enjoyed."Matheson had initially tried to claim an £11,000 data roaming bill racked up on his official iPad on expenses while on a family holiday.The member for Falkirk West was eventually suspended after MSPs agreed with sanctions - which John Swinney had initially opposed.The SNP has attempted to play down the scandal with Mairi McAllan, the Net Zero Secretary, yesterday claiming: "We need to forget about this story".Starmer also insisted today that North Sea oil and gas would continue to be produced for
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