Tory MSP Annie Wells set to be suspended from Holyrood

MSPs are set to vote to suspend Tory Annie Wells from Holyrood.

Ms Wells, the Scottish Conservative equalities spokeswoman, faces being excluded from the Parliament for five days after MSPs on the Standards Committee agreed she had sought “political advantage” by commenting on a report before it was made public.

The ban, if approved, would see her excluded from Holyrood committee meetings and chamber debates for the week beginning Monday November 12.

SNP MSP Gail Ross had complained about Ms Wells’s actions, with the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee agreeing she had breached the Code of Conduct for MSPs by commenting on the report on prisoner voting ahead of its publication.

Ms Wells responded by saying: “Numerous media outlets contacted our office seeking comment on a story on the front page of a national newspaper that morning on prisoner voting.

“So I responded to that, as every MSP would, by issuing a statement to them reiterating my opposition to allowing prisoners voting rights.

“My response did not contain details of the report that weren’t already known, nor was I responsible for the original leak of the document to the paper, and we still don’t know who was.”