Meeting of the Parliament 29 January 2020
I completely disagree. I am not wrong: the corporate body’s decision was not overturned in the case of the Calman commission. The SPCB was given an advisory suggestion about the extra support that was required for the general workings of the Parliament, and the situation then was all about that—I have the document here.
Let me address those who have petitioned to ensure that the EU flag continues to fly outside the Parliament. I respect your views, as I respect those of people who believe that the flag should be removed. Yet, the issue before the Parliament is not our thoughts about the UK's withdrawal from the EU but about whether members of the Parliament are prepared to undermine the corporate body, which we elect and which can be overridden by any Scottish Government that happens to get a sufficient number of MSPs to support its decision. We are aware of the dangers that such a precedent could present.
Those issues define the Scottish Conservative Party’s thinking in the debate, and I believe that many members of other parties agree with us. However, another issue is the public’s rightful expectations of their MSPs as they sit in Parliament, which ensure that they are accountable for spending taxpayers’ money. The public can see that the Parliament has ahead of it six committee debates, nine Opposition business days, eight stage 1 debates, 13 stage 3 debates and 88 legislative consent motions. I do not believe for a minute that the public either want or expect us to be spending time debating what flags fly outside the building. They want us to sort out our schools, our hospitals and our criminal justice system and to get on with addressing the issues that really matter to them in their daily lives. Not only has the Government lost its way when it comes to looking after our public services, it has lost its way when it comes to supporting the conventions of the Parliament. In short, this debate should not be happening.
I move amendment S5M-20625.2, to leave out from “the importance of continuing” to end, and insert:
“that decisions about flag protocol on the parliamentary estate are rightly reserved to the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB); recognises that the SPCB has already made a decision on this matter; believes such action to be unprecedented and deleterious to the norms of this Parliament, and regrets that parliamentary time is being used to debate flag protocol when such time is limited and could, more rightly, be spent on debating issues such as health, justice and education.”
13:47Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.