Did Douglas Ross deserve his red card from the Holyrood chamber?
The former Scottish Tory leader, a referee in his spare time, was sent off with no recourse to VAR.
It had been coming for weeks. Former Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross has had repeated run-ins with Holyrood’s Presiding Officer, Alison Johnstone, who has warned him on several occasions about his conduct in the chamber. On Thursday, things came to a head.
Mr Ross - a football referee in his spare time - was shown the red card and kicked out of First Minister’s Questions after heckling John Swinney during an exchange about net zero. He was also banned from the chamber for the rest of the day.
There was no yellow and no recourse to VAR. But was it deserved?
Mr Ross says no. He argues his treatment is “unprecedented” and has accused the Presiding Officer of being biased against Conservative MSPs and unionist politicians.
He said the issue under discussion at the time - the impact on farming of the SNP’s 2045 net zero target - is close to his heart as an MSP for the Highlands and Islands, and he was frustrated by the failure of Mr Swinney to address the point.
“For a member to be expelled from the chamber with no warning at all, I think may be unprecedented,” Mr Ross told journalists.
The Presiding Officer could point to her many previous warnings, such as on May 21, May 8, April 22 and April 3.
But Mr Ross effectively argues infractions on days gone by don’t count - or if they do, then other serial hecklers, including SNP frontbenchers, should be treated just as harshly.
He added: “You’ve got to look at Alison Johnstone formerly being a Green Party member, saying that she would leave her party allegiances at the door, but taking very different approaches to nationalist politicians who step out of line, compared to unionist politicians who step out of line.”
Many in Holyrood will reject the suggestion that Ms Johnstone, who was elected a Green MSP, is in any way biased against unionists or Tory politicians. But something else Mr Ross said deserves consideration, even by his opponents.
Holyrood is “not a library”, he told journalists. The environment is already “far too sterile”. And certainly, compared to Westminster, proceedings can be pretty tame.
Should we really let a few heckles derail the flow of debate? Or should we just accept the rough and tumble of political sparring and get over it?
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