Meeting of the Parliament 14 March 2023
I oppose the suspension of rule 15.2.1 of standing orders, which would close the public gallery tomorrow, Wednesday, 15 March 2023.
This is the second time that such a motion has been put to the chamber in a matter of weeks as a result of our parliamentary staff lawfully withdrawing their labour. It was wrong previously to shut the public gallery and it is wrong now. As I have said before, in excluding the public from the Parliament’s meetings, we are in direct contradiction of not only the Parliament’s founding principles but the Scotland Act 1998. Therefore, we should reject the motion. We should not casually cast aside the principles of openness and accountability whenever they are inconvenient, especially when there are viable alternatives, as our colleagues in the Welsh Senedd have shown.
Regardless of our views on the industrial action, as parliamentarians and democrats who are accountable to the people of Scotland, we should surely all agree that to close the public gallery is wrong. We are now further down a slippery slope where it is deemed convenient to shut the people out of the Parliament. Therefore, I ask members to oppose the motion.
17:03