Special Holyrood session to pay tribute to Margo

SCOTLAND’S political leaders will pay their own tributes to Margo MacDonald a special session at Holyrood, it has been a confirmed.

Margo MacDonald. Picture: Phil Wilkinson

Alex Salmond will address the Scottish Parliament on the legacy of his former SNP colleague, with Labour’s Johann Lamont, Tory chief Ruth Davidson and Willie Rennie also set to speak to a special motion of condolence at the Scottish Parliament.

MSPs will also get the opportunity to pay their own respects to Mrs MacDonald in a special book of condolence which will be open and available for MSPs to sign in the “black and white” corridor outside Holyrood’s main debating chamber. It is likely to be opened early next week.

It came as tributes continued to pour in for the ex-Independent MSP who died on Friday after a long battle with Parkinson’s.

Ms MacDonald was an independent MSP elected to Holyrood as a regional list member. There will be no by-election, and her seat will remain vacant until the next Scottish Parliament election, in 2016.

Holyrood Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick was in the US for Scotland Week when Mrs MacDonald’s death was announced last week and hailed the passing of a “brave, passionate and committed” politician.

Mrs Marwick added: “She was a sparkling jewel in the Scottish Parliament.”

SEE ALSO

• Tributes as Margo MacDonald MSP dies aged 70

• The life and times of Margo MacDonald

• Alex Neil: Margo was no ordinary politician

• Ian Stewart: Margo’s loss is a loss to Scotland