Holyrood hopes for remit to run Scots elections

Published on Sunday 6 January 2008 20:52

SNP ministers hope a majority of MSPs will back plans this week to transfer responsibility for Scottish elections to Holyrood.

Parliament will debate the issue on Thursday as part of the long inquest into last year's voting fiasco which resulted in more than 140,000 spoiled ballot papers.

Ron Gould, the Canadian expert brought in to review the chaos, concluded that responsibility for elections should be handed over to the Scottish Parliament.

This is something the SNP is keen to secure as it would allow MSPs to change the voting system for Holyrood and make the Scottish Parliament more autonomous.

The Gould Report will be debated by MSPs this week and Scottish Government sources made clear last night that they wanted to send a message to the UK government that Holyrood wants control of its own elections.

A senior SNP source said: "The Scottish Government accepts all the report's recommendations. We expect the debate to focus on the need to transfer responsibility for running the Scottish Parliament elections from Westminster to Holyrood, in order to ensure their future smooth operation."

So far, at least, the UK government has made it clear it does not support the proposal. If that continues to be the case it will lead to yet another row between Holyrood and Westminster.