91훑괵 NEWS | Election 07

Presiding officer elected

Brian Taylor
14 May 07, 03:31 PM

And so Scotland has a new presiding officer.

Alex Fergusson has been elected by 108 votes to the 20 obtained by Margo MacDonald, the Independent MSP.

Alex Fergusson is a Conservative MSP - and widely respected for his work within parliament.

He faces a tough job, given the new parliamentary arithmetic.

Mr Fergusson is a former president of the Blackface Sheepbreeders Association. His herding experience may come in handy.

All the best to the new man - and to his predecessor George Reid who was excellent in the role.

The Ulster Unionists' call for the Assembly to rejoin the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association may have got through "on the nod", but Sinn Fein's attempt to create an all party working group on women hit the buffers today when the Assembly voted 44 to 43 in favour of a DUP amendment. The DUP's Michelle McIlveen argued that such a group would duplicate the work of the Office of First and Deputy First Minister. The Strangford MLA also wanted to be recognised as a politician who had got to Stormont on merit, not as a result of a quota system. Earlier Sinn Fein's Jennifer McCann described the current number of women MLAs (18 out of 108) as a disgrace.

The best moments in the debate featured the Ulster Unionists explaining their 100% male assembly team. Basil McCrea's maiden speech should have been heard without interruption but there were some raucous noises off when he accused the DUP and Sinn Fein of deselecting women candidates in the March elections. Roy Beggs explained that the UUP's woman MP, Lady Sylvia Hermon, hadn't been able to stand. The Alliance's Naomi Long got the biggest laugh when she quipped that the only maidens on the Ulster Unionist benches were men making their maiden speeches.

The UUP defector Arlene Foster acknowledged sarcastically that whilst the UUP's Assembly team was 100% male, its Commons team, now down to just one MP, was 100% female.

Name of the game

Brian Taylor
14 May 07, 02:43 PM

A fun game you can all play at home.

Pick Scotland's next cabinet.

Alex Salmond will be elected first minister on Wednesday - and will appoint his cabinet the following day.

He's already said he'll cut the number of cabinet ministers (to six, including himself.) So here goes.

First Minister - Alex Salmond (that's it Brian, stick your neck out).
Finance - John Swinney, the former leader.
Health (and, of course, Wellbeing) - Shona Robison.
Education - Nicola Sturgeon, Salmond's deputy.
Justice - Kenny MacAskill.
Rural Affairs - Probably Richard Loch-head, who held the brief in opposition and is a former Salmond aide.

But what about the claims of Fergus Ewing, soon to be remarried?

The Minister for Parliament (likely to be Bruce Crawford) will attend cabinet but not as a voting member.

The law officers will no longer sit in cabinet.

Come to think of it, who will they be?

Might it be an ecumenical approach to allow Eilish Angiolini to continue as Lord Advocate? Or is that ruled out by the promise to hold an inquiry into the Shirley McKie case?

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This is 91훑괵 News's election 2007 blog. The political editors from across the UK will report here throughout the Assembly and Parliament elections.