HYPOCRITE FOULKES ATTACKS SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT SYSTEM THAT GOT HIM ELECTED

HYPOCRITE FOULKES ATTACKS SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT SYSTEM THAT GOT HIM ELECTED

SNP MSP for the Lothians Shirley-Anne Somerville has today (Thursday) called on Labour MSP George Foulkes to resign from the Scottish Parliament after he made an extraordinary speech attacking the Parliament’s PR list system, which got him elected.

In a Green Party debate in the Parliament, Foulkes claimed that the current list system was not “not democracy” and was “ridiculous”. Foulkes also launched an attack on the unelected House of Lords, despite having accepted a peerage and taking his seat.

Ms Somerville said:

“Jaws dropped across the Chamber when Lord Foulkes unleashed his latest bout of hypocrisy. Even by his standards, it was shameless.

"If he believes that the Scottish Parliament's list system is so undemocratic, why was he perfectly happy to take advantage of it to get himself elected? He said that anyone who adopted the PR system used at Holyrood would be "mad" - but that particular system was chosen and imposed on the Parliament by Labour because they thought it would permanently rig Scottish elections in their favour.

"Has Lord Foulkes only just realised that the House of Lords is unelected? It didn't seem to bother him when he accepted a peerage from a Labour government, nor did it seem to bother him when he turned up to the Lords to vote in favour of ID cards and 42 day detention, for example, or on a host of matters that only affected the people of England and Wales.

"If Lord Foulkes believes that his own election to the Scottish Parliament and elevation to the peerage were undemocratic, then it is utterly hypocritical for him to continue in those offices. He should resign from them now. He has just talked himself out of both of his jobs."