MSP's parliamentary ban over McKie document leak

Published on Thursday 21 September 2006 01:21

MIKE Pringle, a Liberal Democrat MSP, is to be banned from all meetings of the parliament for a week as a punishment for leaking confidential papers to a Sunday newspaper.

Mr Pringle admitted to leaking documents related to the Shirley McKie fingerprint case from the justice 1 committee.

The standards committee of the parliament met last night to decide his punishment.

The MSPs decided to recommend to the parliamentary authorities that Mr Pringle should be barred from all meetings of the parliament and its committees for a week.

The MSPs also recommended that Mr Pringle, the MSP for Edinburgh South, offer a full apology to the parliament and "consider his position" on the justice 1 committee.

He will still be able to come to the parliament, he will still be paid and he will still be able to use his office.

Mr Pringle apologised to the committee in a written statement. He said: "I am deeply sorry if this has caused any offence. It was certainly not my intention to do so. I do not believe I have broken the code of conduct."

The complaint against Mr Pringle was lodged by Robert Mackenzie, deputy head of the Glasgow bureau of the Scottish Fingerprint Service. He complained that submissions, which had been made by him and by some of his colleagues to the committee in private, had appeared in Scotland on Sunday.