Official Report search · Parliament Workbench

Chamber

Meeting of the Parliament 04 June 2026 [Draft]

04 Jun 2026 · S7 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Parliamentary Bureau Motions

Hepburn, Jamie SNP Cumbernauld and Kilsyth Watch on SPTV

There is another river that could be cried; I will come to that point in a minute.

The point that I was going to make is that three committee places that the Scottish National Party were entitled to have been given up, such that Reform UK, Scottish Labour and the Scottish Conservatives are each getting an additional place in the committee structure that we are proposing. If anything, I could have been the person who was speaking against the motion and saying that it was terribly unfair, but I am a very reasonable person, which is why I am standing here proposing this structure.

I remind members that the SNP will be a minority on all committees, no matter whether it has a convenership or not. Any suggestion that the SNP group will somehow dominate a committee is clearly not true.

Craig Hoy might not like this, but choices on committee convenerships and deputy convenerships were made based on the d’Hondt method. That procedure has been in place since the Parliament was established. Indeed, only one party has been restricted from taking up one of those posts—standing orders prescribe that, and I am not suggesting otherwise. Only one party is restricted from taking up a convenership on the Public Audit Committee. Everything else is to be legitimately allocated in line with the d’Hondt method. Former business managers each made their choices, and the motion is based on those choices. Every single decision has been taken in line with the standing orders of Parliament—[Interruption.] I hear members saying, “Process, process, process!” That is right—this is about the process. That is what the motion is about, Mr Kerr. It is about the process of establishing committees. I think that Mr Kerr should be paying attention.

Mr Hoy is talking about what the situation was in the previous session. He has been here for only one session, so he is still quite new and is still learning. Mr Hoy still has a lot to learn. The finance committee having a governing party convener is not new. Labour held the convenerships in sessions 1 and 2 and also had the deputy convenership in session 1. In session 4, the Government party had both the convenership—a very good convener I thought at the time—and the deputy convenership. I am afraid to say that members can cry about it all they want, but there is nothing new here.

Mr Hoy is talking about the committees that the Conservative Party is about to get convenerships of. If Mr Hoy is speaking against the motion and is about to vote against it, I have to say that, if he is successful, he will not get those convenerships.

I urge Parliament to vote for the motions today.

I move,

That the Parliament agrees, with effect from 4 June 2026, that Temporary Rule 4, under rule 17.1A, be amended as follows—

(a) in paragraph 1, for “2 October 2026” substitute “31 January 2027”;

(b) for “Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee” substitute “Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee”;

“(b) policy in relation to the UK’s relationship with the EU;”

(d) in paragraph 3, for subparagraph (d) substitute:

“(d) any other matter falling within the responsibility of the Scottish Administration relating to devolution, intra-UK and intergovernmental relations; and”

(e) in paragraph 3, at end insert:

“(e) matters relating to culture within the responsibility of the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Culture and Gaelic.”

That the Parliament shall establish committees of the Parliament as follows—

Name of Committee: Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Remit: Set out in Rule 6.4

Number of members: 5

Convenership: The Convener will be a member of the Scottish National Party and the Deputy Convener will be a member of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.