Cut-off point

MSPS who do not turn up to Holyrood yet claim their full salary should be kicked out of the Scottish Parliament after six months, the Scottish Conservatives have said. The move comes after reports that shamed SNP MSP Derek Mackay has not been to Holyrood or attended a surgery for six months, while still collecting his £64,470 salary.

Absolute scandal.nicola Sturgeon should be asked to justify this nonsense during FMQS. Why should taxpayers be funding this waste of space ?

Derek Farmer In what other workplace would you not turn up for work and get paid. There are circumstances with ill health but there was no question mark around his mental health until his texts came to light. The taxpayers have to work hard to renumerate these well-paid excuses for politicians.

Grumpy Mental health is the new “bad back”.

Ninja Turtle

Championing the SNP’S economic policies probably raises mental health questions in itself.

The Litmustest

She is not the custodian of the rules. They are Parliamentary rules.

Veritas Agreed but any proper leader of the country would ask her cabinet to bring forward legislation to deal with the situation, especially as it is a previous member of her own party (albeit now kicked out) who is in receipt of taxpayer funds for doing nothing.

Alistair Roy “... parliamentary rules mean that parties cannot force individuals to resign their seats .... ” Parliamentary rules should be for the benefit and protection of the electorate, not for the benefit and protection of the politicians who break them.

Lavrenti Zapadni If this is the result of the Scottish Conservatives getting a boot up the arse from Dougie Ross it’s making a welcome change, they seem to be finding some teeth at last!

No2communism

Most folk would be kicked out of their job if they failed – without reasonable excuse – to turn up for work for six days, never mind six months. Why should politicians be any different?

Reality Demands to be Heard

It’s one rule for the public sector and one for the rest of us.

Ninja Turtle

Indeed, some councils such as Midlothian have “no compulsory redundancies” policies in place. Can you imagine that in the private sector where the wealth of the country is generated?

Paul Holyrood

My main objection to this is that the efficiency and functioning of this unacceptably expensive and utterly pointless excuse for a Parliament is improved somewhat every time an SNP MP is absent, therefore it might be better if we paid them all more money to stay away. Indeed, I would be the first to volunteer to pay more income tax if we could not only keep them away from Parliament, but if we could exclude them permanently from Scotland as well.

Bill Carson

Another screeching handbrake turn on the Education Track by Nicola and her tame co-driver, Swinney the Clapping Seal.

Vince Vincent Makes sense and we should trust Nicola’s judgement on these things as she has been vindicated in her approach over the last few months.

veritas

And is she providing facemasks (perhaps those nice Snp-branded ones) for all school pupils, paid for by the taxpayer? Or do parents need to pay for them themselves?

Padley Cloth Sturgeon is completely ignoring the previous advice on the use of face coverings. We were told there’s a risk of infecting yourself if you don’t clean your hands before you put your face covering on and don’t clean them again after you remove it. A reusable face covering should be washed after it’s removed and before it’s worn again. A disposable one should only be used once. How will that be complied with by school pupils?

Not a Lemming Exactly, improper use of face masks actually increases your chance of infection, how many school kids will be diligently following the guidelines?

mrdg mrdg