Shamed MSP is banned

MSPS have voted to temporarily ban former minister Mark Mcdonald from Holyrood after an investigation concluded he sexually harassed a woman.

The Aberdeen Donside member will be suspended without pay for a month between 3 September and 2 October, after the summer parliamentary recess.

The sanction was approved by 101 to 0 with six SNP MSPS abstaining in a vote in the Holyrood chamber.

Those abstaining were Colin Beattie, Willie Coffey, Linda Fabiani, Kenneth Gibson, Christine Gra- hame and John Mason. The move was recommended by Holyrood’s Standards Committee after Mr Mcdonald was found to have twice breached the code of conduct for MSPS.

The Independent MSP said he accepted the findings of the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in relation to the two breaches and would abide by the outcome of the vote.

He stood down as childcare minister after allegations first emerged about his behaviour in November last year and later quit the SNP after an internal investigation.

However, he has chosen not to resign as MSP.

The Commissioner was