Labour MSP Paul Sweeney accused of wanting to 'abandon' Holyrood after just one year

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A top Labour MSP has been accused of wanting to “abandon” Holyrood after a year in the Scottish ParliamentPaul Sweeney has pleaded with party bosses to rethink a blanket ban on Holyrood politicians standing for Westminster.

SNP MSP Rona Mackay said: "Shameless Paul Sweeney demonstrates his utter contempt for the Scottish Parliament with his ambition to scuttle off back to Westminster and abandon the people he was elected to represent just last year. "Standing for Holyrood clearly was no more than a convenient stop-gap to pay his bills after he was kicked out of Westminster in 2019.

So much for Scottish Labour being the so-called ‘party of devolution’?”Scottish Labour is proposing a double jobbing clampdown that would prevent sitting MSPs from switching to Westminster.

Supporters of the plan believe it looks bad for recently elected MSPs to try to leave the Parliament so quickly.Sweeney was elected as a regional List MSP in May last year after losing his Glasgow North East seat at Westminster in 2019.Under the proposal, he would have to give up his place at Holyrood before trying to get selected for a Westminster seat.In an email to his party’s governing body, obtained by the Record, Sweeney flagged up the “key role” of regional MSPs in “driving forward the party’s electoral progress in Scotland”.He also highlighted his work in building capacity in the Glasgow North East seat at Westminster, adding:“Ultimately the expectation is for regional members to shadow and then contest constituencies as the basis for the party to make progress at elections, and I would argue that this principle should be applied to both Holyrood and Westminster constituencies alike.”He continued: “I have only ever contested the Glasgow North East