HOW CAN HE STAY AS AN MSP?
SNP deputy says ‘difficult’ for Mackay to continue
DISGRACED Derek Mackay faced fresh pressure to quit as an MSP yesterday after Nicola Sturgeon’s deputy said it was ‘very difficult’ to see how he could continue.
Keith Brown said Mr Mackay’s conduct in sending hundreds of unsolicited online messages to a 16-year-old boy had created an ‘extremely serious situation’.
Mr Mackay quit as finance secretary last week, after revelations he bombarded the teenager with messages, including one describing him as ‘cute’.
He was subsequently suspended by the SNP pending an investigation but remains an MSP.
Opposition politicians yesterday demanded answers from Miss Sturgeon on why she allowed him to quit rather than sack him, while there were also calls for a child protection watchdog to investigate his actions.
Miss Sturgeon has said only that Mr Mackay should ‘reflect’ on whether he should continue as an MSP.
But Mr Brown went much further on the BBC’s Politics Scotland programme yesterday, saying: ‘I think, first of all, it is an extremely serious situation – serious for the young individual involved and it is being treated very seriously by the Government and by the First Minister.
‘As for Derek Mackay’s own future in the parliament, that is something that only he can decide. It is not something that either the SNP or the Government can control.
‘As things stand, Derek Mackay is a suspended member of the SNP and there will be a process through which we have to go.’
Pressed on his own opinion on whether Mr Mackay should quit, Mr Brown said: ‘I think it is very difficult to see how he can continue but it is his decision.’
Last week, it was revealed Miss Sturgeon questioned Mr Mackay about his drinking at an SNP conference, after there were concerns about him showing up to chair the event while hung over.
But Mr Brown said he did not previously have concerns about Mr Mackay. He added: ‘I wasn’t aware of serious text habits, if you like, and this communicating with people of that age.
‘You can see the shock in people, not just in the SNP but in other parties as well. So, no, an extremely serious situation, and I was not aware of that, no.’
The Lib Dems have called for the same power of ‘recall’ at Holyrood as already exists at Westminster, to allow MSPs effectively to be forced out.
Mr Mackay, 42, had contacted the 16-year-old out of the blue on social media then bombarded him with messages for six months, including an offer to take him to a rugby match and to pay his travel costs to meet up.
Nationalist MP Joanna Cherry and Scottish Tory interim leader Jackson Carlaw have both linked his actions to ‘grooming’.
The teenager has now spoken to Police Scotland – with the force saying that while it had not received any complaint of criminality about Mr Mackay, it was ‘assessing available information’.
In the Scottish Sun on Sunday yesterday, the boy – whose identity has not been disclosed – raised concerns about the failure of the SNP to act sooner when there had been concerns about Mr Mackay’s alcohol intake.
He said: ‘If it’s true that he had already been warned, maybe they should have been keeping a closer eye on him.
‘It’s a bit harsh to say Nicola Sturgeon should have known about it. He was sending private messages from his phone or computer, so I don’t think she could just open up his computer.
‘But if there have been other complaints made about him before this, the Scottish Government should definitely be honest about that.
‘They may as well just come out with everything now. He’s already in deep water and there is no point in hiding anything.’
Lib Dem Alex Cole-Hamilton yesterday called for all MSPs to have to go through disclosure checks under the Protecting Vulnerable Groups scheme. He said winning an election should not prevent politicians from ‘rigorous checking of your suitability to be left alone with children’.
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard yesterday wrote to Miss Sturgeon to ask why Mr Mackay was allowed to resign.
He said: ‘It is deeply concerning that such a senior member of this parliament was not immediately dismissed upon admitting the allegations were true.
‘The fact that his behaviour was directed towards a teenage school boy should have been enough for the First Minister to take decisive and fast action.’
‘Extremely serious situation’ ‘I wasn’t aware of text habits’