AN MSP who threatened to resign from the standards committee if the decision to suspend Wendy Alexander, the former Scottish Labour leader, was not upheld has been removed from the committee by the Liberal Democrats.
But Tavish Scott, the new leader of the Scottish Lib Dems, insists his decision to change the representation on the committee had nothing to do with the Glasgow Lib Dem MSP Hugh O'Donnell's comments over the weekend. Before the recess, Mr O'Donnel
l voted with the committee's SNP members to suspend Ms Alexander for a day for failing to declare donations to her leadership campaign.
His vote backed up the SNP claim that the decision was not partisan. Over the weekend, he made it clear he would resign if MSPs failed to rubber-stamp the committee's recommendation.
It is expected the decision to suspend Ms Alexander will be reversed, which would be the first time a recommendation by the standards committee had been overturned. Mr O'Donnell was unavailable for comment.
An SNP spokesman said: "This is clearly a reaction to Hugh O'Donnell's threat to resign and will have been a surprise to him after making his position on the upcoming vote crystal clear." However, a Lib Dem spokesman said: "This was part of a reshuffle and had nothing to do with his comments. Almost all committee memberships have changed."
Mr O'Donnell has been appointed as an education spokesman and put on the equal opportunities committee. He has been replaced on the standards committee by Mike Rumbles, the new chief whip, who shares Mr O'Donnell's view on the issue.
The full article contains 270 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
