Meeting of the Parliament 21 December 2023
His blatant lack of respect for democratically elected individuals, use of derogatory language and nasty comments about others on social media should have been investigated by the recruitment panel. If that panel is open and transparent, what did its members make of those comments? If they did not take them into account, why not? The committee should be able to question the applicant prior to their appointment so that we can ask those questions in an open and transparent manner.
The sidelining of the Parliament is a disgrace, the leaking to the press is a disgrace, and the proposed appointment is a disgrace. We all deserve better than this.
I move amendment S6M-11733.1, to leave out from “recommendation” to end and insert:
“unanimous recommendation that the Parliament approves the appointment of Professor Deborah Roberts and Craig Mackenzie as Land Commissioners to the Scottish Land Commission; recognises the widespread concerns expressed regarding the recommended appointment of Michael Russell; highlights that Michael Russell’s appointment was not approved unanimously by the Committee because it had not had the opportunity to take evidence from him regarding any potential conflicts of interest that would arise from him having recently been an MSP, president of the Scottish National Party, interim chief executive of the Scottish National Party, and a Scottish Minister; understands that Michael Russell has made a number of inflammatory comments in the past about opposition politicians and parties, as well as about land reform, and therefore questions his ability to be impartial, and approves the appointments of Professor Deborah Roberts and Craig Mackenzie as required by section 10 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016, but, in the interests of protecting the reputation of the Scottish Land Commission, does not approve the appointment of Michael Russell until such time as the Committee has undertaken further scrutiny.”
13:20Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.