Meeting of the Parliament 17 May 2023
We, as members of the Scottish Parliament, have the privilege of serving the people of Scotland. We must do that in their best interests and as transparently as possible. It is right that they know of any interests that we may have that could influence our decision making. While we must not allow those interests to influence our work, we need to go further. We need to be clear and transparent about interests where a member of the public could reasonably believe that those interests would influence our decision making. It is very easy for us to make a judgment about what does or does not influence our activities, but that might not be apparent to an onlooker.
I do not think anyone in the chamber would believe that they are influenced by the things that we declare in our entry in the register of members’ interests. It is quite the opposite—we would all avoid things that would in any way compromise our ability to act freely.
However, we must understand that our constituents do not know us personally. We must also recognise how they might reasonably believe that we could be influenced by certain interests. That is why we have a register of interests and why we as MSPs must take every step to ensure that we abide by the rules regarding the register of interests and the declaration of those interests.
I thank the committee and the commissioner for their work on this case. I note that the report was agreed unanimously by the committee and that the penalty that it proposes is not overly detrimental. However, it provides a useful reminder to us all to be meticulous in registering and declaring our interests. For that reason, I will support the committee’s recommendations and urge colleagues to do the same.