Tears at bedtime

Draconian punishment for the Holyrood four, as reported by The Herald:

"FOUR MSPs barred from Holyrood after disrupting first minister's questions began a court challenge against the ban yesterday.The Scottish Socialist Party has instructed two QCs to launch a Court of Session judicial review of the process by which they were disciplined.They claim it went against natural justice and have won backing from an international campaign of other left-wing parliamentarians.The legal moves began on the same day Paul Grice, the parliament's chief executive, revealed the extensive nature of the ban they would suffer throughout September.It means not only will the MSPs receive no salary for a month, they will also be barred from Holyrood and will have no access to parliamentary services, including the e-mail system. Those sending them e-mails will be informed their messages will be deleted.The sanctions followed a protest in the parliament chamber on the last day before the summer recess."

Holyrood Chronicles will watch the court action with interest. While there is certainly a case for punishing these errant MSPs, it remains something of a mystery as to why the Parliamentary authorities are taking such a tough line. Is there any need for the action proposed on e-mails? What will it achieve, apart from making martyrs of the SSP?

Full details of the sanctions are given in this Scottish Parliament press release. Intriguingly, as is made clear here, the earlier stop on MSPs' allowances has been modified to the extent that their staff will continue to be paid during September:

"On Thursday 30 June, the Scottish Parliament unanimously endorsed a recommendation and report by the Standards and Public Appointments Committee to apply sanctions in response to that day’s conduct of four Members of the Scottish Socialist Party in the Holyrood Chamber.
The report recommended that for the month of September 2005 Colin Fox, Frances Curran, Rosie Kane and Carolyn Leckie should:
• be excluded from all proceedings of the Parliament • have their right of access to the parliamentary complex withdrawn• have their right of access to parliamentary facilities and services withdrawn• have their salaries and allowances withdrawn.
The MSPs concerned have today been informed of the package of measures which will give practical effect to the Parliament’s decision, in order to enable them to make appropriate preparations ahead of September’s exclusion.
Today’s measures will ensure that, unless otherwise directed by the MSPs concerned, salaries of MSP staff, other standing orders (direct debits) and regular payments will continue to be paid."

While the decision to restore staff salaries seems eminently sensible, who made it? The earlier decision was made by Parliament as a whole on the recommendation of the Standards Committee. Who decided to modify the proposals, given that Parliament has been in recess for the past two weeks? Or do the Parliamentary authorities just make it up as they go along?