Lawyer dismisses plans for votes threshold as useless

PLANS to introduce a 55 per cent threshold for parliamentary dissolution votes may have "no practical value" because they could be repealed with the votes of just 50 per cent of the House, a leading lawyer has warned.

Writing in The Scotsman, Christine O'Neill said: "Such an act could have no practical value. If it could be repealed by 50.1 per cent of MPs – and given that repealing legislation could, with a fair wind, be introduced and passed on a single afternoon – this new act would not … present any greater obstacle to bringing down a government than exists at present."

Her comments came as Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg defended the new threshold, insisting it would help bring stability and pointing out that a much higher proportion of MSPs must vote for a dissolution of the Scottish Parliament.