SNP accused of hijacking key Holyrood committee to undermine scrutiny

Conservative MSP Craig Hoy spoke out after it emerged both the convener and deputy convener of the finance committee will be SNP politicians.

Positions are decided using a system of proportional representation based on the number of seats held by political parties.

The SNP returned 58 MSPs at the election in May, far more than any of its rivals.

But Mr Hoy said the move was "akin to putting Dracula in charge of a blood bank", and there are calls for the allocations to be reconsidered.

"With a huge focus during this parliamentary term set to be on the government's finances, it is sadly predictable that this secretive SNP government has grabbed those two vitally important positions,” Mr Hoy said.

"With MSPs quite rightly concerned about a £5 billion budget black hole, would it not have been better for the SNP to allow opposition politicians to lead the scrutiny of the government's finances?

"Has John Swinney learnt no lessons from the SNP financial scandal about the importance of transparency and independent audit, about the separation of powers? Clearly not. They have learned no lessons."

Raising the issue in Holyrood, Mr Hoy queried whether the SNP was “about to propose a pair of party patsies”, and joked this could include the “eagle-eyed” Colin Beattie.

Mr Beattie was the SNP’s long-serving treasurer during much of the period in which Peter Murrell, its former chief executive and Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband, was embezzling more than £400,000 from the party.

"People will not be surprised that SNP ministers are trying to hijack the finance committee, but it flies in the face of one of the fundamental principles of this parliament - that the committee system should be independent of government and should doggedly hold them to account,” Mr Hoy said.

He added: "This power grab on the finance committee is akin to putting Dracula in charge of a blood bank."

Jamie Hepburn, the SNP minister for parliamentary business, dismissed the concerns.

“Cry me a river from Craig Hoy,” he replied in Holyrood. “How desperate, how sad. No wonder they [the Conservatives] are there as a reduced rump.”

Mr Hepburn said committee membership had been discussed and agreed by the cross-party Parliamentary Bureau.

“The number of members from each party on committees is largely based on d’Hondt [proportional representation] calculations to try and ensure fairness across committees,” he said. “That’s been the method used since devolution.”

Mr Hepburn said the SNP would form a minority on all committees, and so would not “dominate” them.

As well as the finance committee, the SNP will hold both the convener and deputy convener roles on the criminal justice committee and the public service reform committee.

Andy Wightman, a former Green MSP, said the allocations should have been opposed and “a more balanced apportionment of places” agreed.

Neil Findlay, a former Labour MSP, said: "The committee system in Holyrood is already one that needs a major shake up but today’s publication of the proposed convenorships make it a complete and utter farce - the parliament is being brought into disrepute."

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Parliament said: “The allocation of committee conveners and deputy conveners was agreed at the Bureau, based on proportionality of parties in the Parliament and calculated by d’Hondt.”