Scottish Labour is promising to clean up Holyrood by giving voters the right to sack MSPs mid-term and banning double jobbing.
Party leader Anas Sarwar said the suite of reforms would end the “secrecy, sleaze and cover up” he claimed had marked the SNP’s time in office.
The changes, announced at a press conference in Edinburgh, follow claims Holyrood needs an overhaul after two decades of devolution.
Part of the package includes electing committee conveners and beefing up the ministerial code of conduct, both of which could be pushed through by MSPs.
Other measures, such as giving MSPs almost effective legal immunity from raising issues in the chamber, are legally more problematic.
This plan is based on giving MSPs ‘parliamentary privilege’, as is the case at Westminster for MPs, but Sarwar conceded a change of law would be needed to bring it into effect.
Another element of his ‘Stronger Holyrood’ package is backing a so-called ‘recall’ law to enable voters to bin MSPs if their behaviour had fallen below acceptable standards.
He specifically cited a Westminster recall law which empowers voters to act if an MP has been convicted of an offence and sentenced, or suspended from the Commons for at least 10 sitting days.
The idea has gained traction at Holyrood after former SNP finance secretary Derek Mackay clung on as an MSP despite being found to have pestered a 16 year old boy with texts.
Other measures include extending freedom of information law and banning second jobs, the latter of which had been pursued by former Labour MSP Neil Findlay.
He said: “We have allowed ourselves to get into this grip of an exceptionalism that somehow says 'UK structures are broken, the UK Parliament is broken, democracy is broken, Westminster is broken', but try and pretend that there's no problems here in Scotland.
“How do we make sure we have full transparency when it comes to the conduct of MSPs, of ministers, and indeed of the First Minister, so we can end this culture of secrecy, sleaze, cover up?”
He also accused the SNP of applying “one standard” to themselves and another standard to everyone else.
Sarwar cited an example of the SNP calling for publication of a report into bullying claims against Home Secretary Priti Patel, while the SNP-led Government refused to confirm the outcome of a probe into former Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary Fergus Ewing.
SNP MSP Paul McLennan said: "Anas Sarwar has shown he'd rather side with the Tories in their Trump-like denial of Holyrood's cast iron mandate for delivering a referendum than stand up for the people of Scotland.
"Scottish Labour continues to be nothing more than a powerless and pointless branch office of Westminster Labour, taking their lead from Starmer's obsession to mimick Tory policies - from backing Brexit, defending Westminster’s erosion of devolution to endorsing toxic Westminster cuts.
"Even Sarwar's silence since the likely new Prime Minister's comments of contempt for the democratic choices of the people in Scotland and the elected Scottish Government speaks volumes."
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government is committed to openness and transparency and recognises that scrutiny is the bedrock that underlies effective governance. It is for the Scottish Parliament to consider matters relevant to its internal operation, including its mechanisms for holding the Government to account.
“Scotland already has the most open and far-reaching FOI legislation in the UK, and we are currently considering extending it even further.
“Independent advisers are already reviewing the Ministerial Code and its relationship with the new procedure for handling complaints about Ministers in order to better balance the public interest with considerations of privacy and confidentiality, and to ensure that there is full confidence in the process. Any necessary changes to the Ministerial Code are for the First Minister to consider and will be made in due course."
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