Former Scottish Labour Cabinet minister lands top Westminster job
dailyrecord.co.ukA former Scottish cabinet minister has landed a top Westminster job. Glasgow West MP Patricia Ferguson has been elected as the chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee.
She beat Livingston MP Gregor Poynton by two votes.Ferguson used to be a Labour MSP and held the post of Culture Minister. The Scottish Affairs Committee had been chaired by the SNP's Pete Wishart since 2015, but the Nationalists lost their right to chair the committee after only returning nine MPs at the general election.
Select committee chairs receive £18,309 on top of their £91,346 yearly salary. This means they earn £109,655 a year.The job of the committee is to look at how the Scotland Office is run and to scrutinise relations with the Scottish Parliament.The chair of the committee was chosen by all MPs.
She won by 237 votes to 235.Ferguson had vowed to be "critical when needed" in an interview with the Record before the election took place.She also said her experience as a minister would help in the new job.
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