Presiding officer 'acted in a neutral manner' as Douglas Ross questions impartiality

Holyrood’s presiding officer has insisted that she “acted in a neutral manner” after ejecting former Tory leader Douglas Ross from the chamber.

Alison Johnstone has denied accusations of bias after ejecting Ross from the debating chamber for the rest of the day following his interjections during First Minister’s Questions on Thursday.

Ross was ordered to leave after shouting from his seat while John Swinney was speaking.

Johnstone said the former Tory leader had “persistently refused” to abide by Holyrood’s standing orders, which make clear MSPs should treat each other courteously.

Following the incident, Ross accused the presiding officer of “blatant bias”.

Johnstone was elected as a Green MSP, but the presiding officer is expected to be neutral and incumbents give up their party affiliation when taking on the role.

“For a member to be expelled from the chamber with no warning at all, I think may be unprecedented,” Ross said on Tuesday.

The MSP challenged Johnstone from the chamber floor, claiming she had refused requests to meet with him to discuss the incident.

“If you are closing down all attempts to raise this and refuse to meet with me, how can you be acting in a neutral manner and treating all members equally as required by parliament?” Ross asked.

However, Johnstone repeatedly order Ross to sit down, and evaded discussion.

“I have acted in a neutral manner,” she said.

“As far as I am aware, I have not received a request to specifically meet with you.”

She added: “In this chair, I treat all members equally and act in the interest of all members of this Parliament.”

Johnstone repeated that she would not discuss “matters outwith standing orders”.

“I am not continuing to have a dialogue about when I’m meeting you in this chamber,” she said.

STV News has seen emails exchanged on behalf of Ross with Holyrood chief executive David McGill requesting a meeting with McGill and the presiding officer.

On Friday, Mr McGill’s officer replied: “I have just been informed that the presiding officer is unavailable on Tuesday morning.”

Ross subsequently repeated his request to meet with Johnstone before the start of parliamentary business on Tuesday.

Later on Tuesday, Mr Ross released a statement saying: “This latest exchange has left me with even greater concerns about the approach taken by the Presiding Officer in the chamber.

“If she or her office are going to repeatedly reject requests for a private meeting, then I have no option but to raise this in parliament.

“Given how she responded, I believe that there are further serious questions for her to answer as a matter of urgency.

“Either the Presiding Officer is completely unaware of these requests being turned down on her behalf, or she has misled parliament and should correct the record.”

A Scottish Parliament spokesperson said the presiding officer’s office has not received any correspondence from Mr Ross requesting a meeting.

“The Presiding Officer has sought a meeting with the leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Russell Findlay MSP, on this matter,” the spokesperson said.