Snub for Queen as 48 MSPs miss her speech

MSPs have been branded "dishonourable" after almost 50 of them snubbed the Queen and stayed away from the parliament's tenth birthday celebrations.

While Her Majesty shrugged off a slight cold to deliver an uplifting speech in the Holyrood chamber, many MSPs went on holiday and others found better things to do.

Some saw the apathy as a snub to the monarch, but others said it was an inappropriate way to mark the setting up of the Scottish Parliament.

One of the architects of Scottish devolution, Canon Kenyon Wright, accused the absentee MSPs of being guilty of "an act of dishonour".

"I am very sorry to hear about what happened," he said. "It was not just an act of discourtesy to the Queen, who after all is still our head of state, but even more importantly they should have been there to celebrate ten years of a parliament that has made a great deal of difference to Scotland."

George Reid, former presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament, said the failure of so many MSPs to turn up was "rather sad". "A three-line whip should have been in place. Ten years should have been celebrated properly," he said.

The lack of interest from elected representatives was in direct contrast to that of the children involved in the celebrations. In total 143 school pupils, 88 per cent of those born in Scotland on the day the parliament was reconvened in 1999, gathered to celebrate the anniversary. But just 62 per cent of the 129 MSPs were there, with 48 missing.

While many of the children still live in Scotland, some travelled with their families to the celebrations from as far afield as Ontario in Canada, New Jersey in the United States, Germany and Faroe.

Yet eight of the 16 MSPs based in and around Edinburgh failed to turn up. Instead, embarrassed parliamentary staff were hurried into the main chamber to fill seats left vacant by MSPs.

Chloe McDonald, one of the birthday girls, who travelled from Canada for the event, said: "I really wanted to be here. It was such an important occasion and I really wanted to meet the Queen."

In contrast, SNP chief whip Brian Adam – who decided to go on holiday to Argyll – instead complained that MSPs had only received two to three months' notice to make arrangements.

In reality they were told that there would be a special event on 1 July in October last year and had the full details at the beginning of April.

But Mr Adam continued: "This is a parliamentary recess and politicians are entitled to take holidays."

Excuses ranged from being on holiday to constituency business, from moving office to family commitments. Some offered sick notes, while many others gave no reason at all.

Conservative Gavin Brown's wife gave birth the night before, while SNP MSP Stuart McMillan's wife was expected to give birth on the day.

One of the weakest reasons given was by Green MSP Patrick Harvie, who said he was moving his office in Glasgow instead. He was the only party leader to snub the Queen.

Another Tory, Liz Smith, is in charge of a school cricket tour, while Labour Lothians MSP Lord George Foulkes preferred to be in the House of Lords.

One senior Labour MSP complained: "This really is disgraceful. One or two had reasonable excuses, but overall it was a very poor show."

A senior Tory accused the absent MSPs of "bad manners".

The only one to go on the record was Conservative deputy leader Murdo Fraser.

"I thought it was a pretty disappointing turnout," said Mr Fraser. "It put the parliament in a very bad light indeed and has not done anything for the poor reputation of politicians among members of the public." This sentiment was reflected in a TNS-BMRB poll of 997 voters published last night which suggested that two thirds of Scots thought that the Scottish Parliament had done nothing for them.

There was suspicion that many absentee MSPs, particularly some Nationalists, deliberately boycotted the event because of their anti-monarchy views.

Environment minister Roseanna Cunningham, who has previously made it clear that she takes the oath of loyalty to the Queen under protest, was on ministerial business for the Forestry Commission instead of attending.

She was one of six ministers who snubbed the event, five on official business and one, Jim Mather, on holiday.

But the republican suspicions appeared to be confirmed by SNP member Christine Grahame. The south of Scotland MSP said: "I'm a republican, plain and simple as that. I had no intention of being there and I made my position clear before the event. I don't want to be seen as a hypocrite because I don't believe in the aristocracy running our country."

But despite the furore, a spokesman for the Queen insisted that Her Majesty was not upset by the indifference of almost 40 per cent of the MSPs to her and the parliament.

A Palace spokesman said: "The Queen was delighted to be there. She has been very involved and committed with the Scottish Parliament since 1999 and that commitment remains undimmed."

On the small number of MSPs present, he added: "It did not detract from a very successful day and there was no offence taken."

A Scottish Parliament spokesman said: "We recognise there was not a full turnout but can confirm that we had confirmation from 84 members that they would be present. Obviously we would have liked a bigger turnout but nothing has detracted from the fact this was a highly successful day."

Queen says Holyrood is ready for 'next stage of journey'

THE Queen's speech to MSPs was seen by many as a nod of encouragement to proposals to increase Holyrood's powers.

Closely following the publication of the Calman Commission report into devolution – which gave a blueprint for Holyrood's future with new powers over tax, speed limits, drink-driving and more – Her Majesty suggested that, after ten years, the parliament was ready to take on new challenges.

She said: "Your challenge over the coming years is to take the Scottish Parliament forward on the next stage of its journey, to build upon these strong foundations, to ensure that it continues to reflect the priorities and aspirations of all of Scotland's people, and to retain the public's confidence and trust."

The theme of change was picked up by First Minister Alex Salmond in his speech after the Queen.

Possibly with thoughts of his planned independence referendum in mind as opposed to the extension of devolution supported by the unionist parties, Mr Salmond acknowledged the differences in the parliament about the future of Scotland.

But he added that all MSPs had a "genuine regard for what is best for the future of Scotland".

He went on: "In searching for the solutions we believe are best for Scotland, we share a common purpose. And that exchange of ideas, taking place in Scotland, is the sign of a healthy, thriving democracy."

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott said he believed that the Queen's remarks were meant to be supportive of reforming devolution.

He said yesterday: "The Queen is well versed in Scottish politics and she was today. Liberal Democrats hope politicians who stand in the way of change will have listened carefully to her remarks."

This was the sixth time the Queen has addressed MSPs since devolution began.

Who wasn't there - and why

SNP (21)

Gil Paterson – Family bereavement

Brian Adam – Holiday in Argyll

Richard Lochhead, above – Ministerial engagement in Campbeltown, Argyll

Roseanna Cunningham – Ministerial engagement on canal in Kilsyth, Stirlingshire

Bruce Crawford – Ministerial engagement commemorating the First World War dead

Willie Coffey – meeting with Diageo in Kilmarnock over job losses

Stuart McMillan – Party said his wife was expecting a baby, but office said he was on constituency business

Joe Fitzpatrick – No reason given

Kenny Gibson – No reason given

Christine Grahame, below – Boycotted event because she is a republican

Jamie Hepburn – No reason given

Adam Ingram – Holiday

Stewart Stevenson – Opening a new cruise liner terminal in Greenock

Ian McKee – No reason given

Shirley-Anne Somerville – Family engagement

Dave Thompson – No reason given

Bill Wilson – Constituency business

Bob Doris – Constituency business meeting asylum seekers

Christopher Harvie – No reason given

Jim Mather – Holiday

Sandra White – No reason given

LABOUR (17)

Lord George Foulkes, above – House of Lords engagement

Sarah Boyack – Women's award ceremony

Duncan McNeil – Constituency business

David Stewart – Constituency business

Charlie Gordon – Constituency business

Margaret Curran – Constituency business

Richard Baker – Holiday in Dordogne

Claire Baker – Holiday in Dordogne

Helen Eadie – Holiday

Hugh Henry – Holiday

Wendy Alexander – Holiday

Cathy Jamieson, left – Holiday

Mary Mulligan – Holiday

Des McNulty, left – Holiday

(Three Labour MSPs cited health reasons, but party refused to name them)

INDEPENDENT (1)

Margo MacDonald – Ill health

GREENS (1)

Patrick Harvie – Moving office

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS (5)

Jim Hume – No reason given

Alison McInnes – Personal commitment

Mike Pringle – No reason given

Mike Rumbles, below – Believed to be on holiday in Italy

Jim Tolson – No reason given

CONSERVATIVES (3)

Liz Smith – Cricket tour in Somerset with schoolchildren

Gavin Brown – His wife had a baby only the previous night

Jamie McGrigor – Attending a meeting to discuss inshore rescue