MP slams risk of election clash under new legislation

Edinburgh East MP Sheila Gilmore has hit out at the coalition Government's proposals to hold the next general election on the same day as the 2015 Scottish Parliament elections.

In a speech in the House of Commons the MP criticised the Fixed-term Parliaments Bill, which will fix the period of each Westminster parliament at five years.

The Scottish Parliament operates with four-year terms, and with the next election set for Thursday, May 5, 2011, the one after that would fall on May 7, 2015 - the same day as the next Westminster election, should the Bill be passed.

Ms Gilmore said: "The elections are different and the issues are very different. It is undoubtedly true that the issues that the Scottish Parliament would want people to pay attention to will simply be swamped if there is a Westminster general election at the same time."

She added that, up until now, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg "appeared to have chosen to ignore the issue."