Eleven protestors who disrupted Humza Yousaf’s FMQs debut will be banned from parliament’s public balcony for six months.
The first FMQ session of Mr. Yousaf was disrupted by a succession of climate activists.
The Holyrood gallery was ultimately cleared after the session had to be suspended five times within the first fifteen minutes.
Later, the presiding officer announced harsher measures against the dissidents.
Later, police verified that eleven individuals had been removed from the public gallery, but no one had been arrested.
Such interruptions have occurred nearly weekly during recent FMQs.
Even though mobile phones are banned in the museum, the presiding officer, Alison Johnstone, will punish them.
She later stated that “more stringent measures” would be taken to identify the perpetrators. Also a modification to the parliament’s visitor policy that would ban them from the public gallery for six months.
The first suspension of proceedings occurred before Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross was able to pose his first query to Mr. Yousaf, who succeeded Nicola Sturgeon as first minister on Wednesday.
During Mr. Ross’s exchanges with Mr. Yousaf, there followed a series of interruptions, culminating in the presiding officer’s appeal for police and court officials to remove the gallery audience.
Ms. Johnstone stated, “I cannot adequately convey my regret that such action is necessary for our national legislature.
“My deepest condolences go out to the vast majority of those who have traveled to the legislature today to observe their elected representatives at work.”
After one school group was permitted to remain in the gallery, SNP MSP Stuart McMillan requested that another school group from his constituency be permitted to return, resulting in a second suspension.
Mr. Yousaf informed the presiding officer that he concurred with her decision to clear the gallery and complimented the students for “behaving much better than some of the adults in the public gallery.”
Mr. Ross criticized the protestors, stating, “This shower has been doing this week after week, and the image of genuine constituents being forced out of our parliament is one that we will all regret and that none of us want to see repeated.
He expressed gratitude that pupils were allowed to remain, but added, “We must do something to prevent this from continuing.”
In recent months, protests have become a common occurrence during FMQs. But today may have set a new record with FIVE within the first set of questions.
Presiding officer Alison Johnstone told Scottish Parliament members of plans to tighten this.
However, they mostly ban cell phone use in the chamber, and it’s unknown if they’ll work.
Given that the protests comprise entirely of people shouting, it is difficult to devise a foolproof strategy to stop them.
Today, the public gallery has been removed.
The absolute last resort would be to prohibit people from sitting there at all, which the parliamentary authorities will be loath to contemplate given that Holyrood’s raison d’être is transparent scrutiny.
The session followed three days of ceremony and procedure since Monday when Mr. Yousaf was elected leader of the SNP.
On Wednesday, the Court of Session swore him in after most MSPs supported his first cabinet bid on Tuesday.
Six of the nine cabinet members are female, and five are under the age of 40, with his new deputy Shona Robison taking over the finance brief from Kate Forbes.
Ms. Forbes, who was narrowly defeated by Mr. Yousaf in the leadership contest, declined a transfer from finance secretary to rural affairs. Which is generally viewed as a demotion, and is now a backbench MSP.
Mr. Ross criticized Mr. Yousaf’s appointments, describing his staff as a “cabinet of lackeys.”
Mr. Ross noted that important ministerial positions related to tourism and social security had been eliminated. While Mr. Yousaf had appointed a new minister for independence.
“It’s the same old rhetoric from the SNP,” he said.
And he questioned whether having an independence minister was a priority for the Scottish people.
Mr. Yousaf stated that he made no apologies for appointing an independence-focused minister. Stating that it was now more crucial than ever for Scotland to depart the United Kingdom.
In his query to Mr. Yousaf, the leader of the Scottish Labour Party, Anas Sarwar, focused on Scotland’s mental health crisis, stating that more than 11,000 children and adolescents waited longer than the standard of 18 weeks and that over 14,000 referrals were completely rejected.
Mr. Yousaf stated that Mr. Sarwar did not recognize the global impact of the Covid pandemic. But he apologized and expressed “deep regret” for anyone who had to wait longer than necessary.
He added that the Scottish government was taking action on recovery and that the number of minors beginning treatment in the most recent quarter was at an all-time high.
The first minister recorded 777 fewer youth on mental health waiting lists. While the number of minors waiting more than 18 weeks had decreased by 1,110.
He added that the number of patients waiting more than 52 weeks had decreased by 41.9%.
