Holyrood filming rules ‘breach’

Ruth Davidson has been accused of breaking Scottish Parliament rules by recording party political messages in the building.

The Scottish Conservative leader appears in a video clip published on Twitter setting out why voters should back her party in next week’s local elections.

Parliament chiefs refused to confirm whether they had received the complaint, but said “normal practice” would see them respond by launching an investigation.

The complainant, who claimed to be one of Ms Davidson’s Edinburgh Central constituents, said the MSP’s role in the Heart video is a “clear misuse of the parliamentary estate for party political election purposes”.

The Scottish Parliament media policy states that filming of a “party-political nature or for party political purposes is not permitted within the building”.

A spokesman for the parliament said they do not comment on whether complaints have been made.

“In circumstances where a complaint is made, our normal practice is to contact the member concerned for their response in order to help establish whether there is basis to the complaint,” he added.

“We would then respond to the complainant thereafter with our decision on the matter.”

The Tories said other parties had also agreed to Global Radio’s request to record a clip related to the May 4 ballot.

A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: “This is tiresome and manufactured nonsense from the SNP.”