Petition flies flag for Saltire in chamber at Parliament

Published on Tuesday 13 January 2009 09:30

MSPs were today being urged to display the Saltire in the debating chamber of the Scottish Parliament.

John Blyth, an office worker from Portobello, and Helen McNeill, a colleague from Lochend, have submitted a petition to the parliament calling for the flag of Scotland to be put on permanent show in the Holyrood chamber.

They claim most parliaments around the world feature their country's flag.

Mr Blyth said: "Some of the opposition members accuse the SNP of hijacking the Saltire – here is a chance for them to say it belongs to us all, which it does."

The plea was being considered by the parliament's public petitions committee this afternoon.

Mr Blyth said his suggestion was prompted by a friend who mistook a picture of the Swedish parliament for Holyrood. "It looked very similar, but then we saw the Swedish flag hanging there.

"Looking at other parliaments, a lot do hang their flags in the chamber."

A Scottish Parliament spokesman said: "We cannot pre-empt the considerations of the public petitions committee. Our current practice is to display the Saltire flag, the Union flag and the European Union flag outside the public entrance to the Parliament."