A REFORM MSP has been torn into on BBC Debate Night after the party stormed out of the Holyrood debating chamber during a debate on independence.
During the debate on Tuesday – which was about whether Scotland should have the right to decide its own future – Reform UK's Scottish leader Malcolm Offord said his party would not engage in "vanity projects" before leading his MSPs out of the chamber.
The Presiding Officer later went on to chastise Reform over the stunt, telling Offord he will not "tolerate" such behaviour.
During the BBC's Debate Night programme on Wednesday, broadcast from Edinburgh, Reform MSP Angela Ross was challenged on why her party refused to engage with the debate.
One audience member said: "Reform ran away from the debate. If they really believed in it, they should sit in their seats and debate it."
Ross responded by pointing to "issues" the Scottish Government is currently facing, including "plummeting education" and homelessness.
"We do believe that the people of Scotland have the right," she said. "But not at this moment when we are in such a mess and we've got so much to sort out.
"This is not appropriate."
Presenter Stephen Jardine then asked: "So what's achieved by you walking out of the room?"
Ross responded: "So we went back to our chambers, rooms, and we got on with the work, we got on with looking at our emails, looking at what constituents want.
"We want to try and make a big difference by actually–"
Scottish Greens MSP Lorna Slater then intervened: "By photographing themselves and putting it on social media, so you knew what they were doing."
Ross continued: "So that we could get on with the day job and trying to solve the problems of Scotland."
Slater, who served as a junior minister under the Bute House Agreement, said: "Having been a government minister, every single day that I was a minister you would ask the question of your officials, why can't we get on with this?
"Why can't we tackle drug deaths by changing laws around drugs? Oh no, that's reserved.
"Why can't we tackle the climate crisis by changing laws on aviation or labelling consumer goods differently? Oh no, we can't, that's reserved.
"Every day you hit things which are reserved, which can't be done in Scotland. Our hands are tied."
"We have enough devolved powers," Ross interrupted. "Education, health, we have enough devolved power."
Slater responded: "We do not have enough devolved power. We can't protect our workers. We can't decide how our taxes are spent."
