MARK McDonald should have to deliver a personal apology in the Holyrood chamber after a complaint that he sexually harassed a woman worker was upheld, a leading feminist has said.
Kirstein Rummery, of the Women’s Equality Party (WEP), said a Scottish Parliament committee’s recommendation to suspend the former minister for one month without pay was “too lenient”. “He will face a loss of income, but it seems fairly lenient. There is nothing about an apology or training or such like,” she told The National. “I am disappointed.”
Asked if he should have to make a public apology in the chamber, she said: “I would have thought so, as that would send out a powerful message about how unacceptable that behaviour is.”
Rummery added that if making an apology isn’t among the possible sanctions, then it should be included and should apply to MSPs who behave in a racist or sectarian manner, too.
Holyrood’s Standards Committee proposed suspending McDonald for a month without pay after considering a report by the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life.
It was asked to investigate after SNP MSP James Dornan made an official complaint in March. Committee convener Clare Haughey said the committee agreed with the findings of the commissioner that McDonald breached the code of conduct for MSPs by failing to treat one woman with respect and that his conduct towards her “involved sexual harassment”.
Haughey said the committee agreed with the finding that McDonald had failed to treat a second witness with respect “in relation to a financial matter”.
Haughey said the committee was recommending McDonald be excluded from the proceedings of the Parliament for a month without pay.
The recommendation needs to be agreed by the full Parliament through a motion and vote in the chamber, expected to take place next week.
The Aberdeen Donside MSP quit his role as early years minister and the SNP after admitting inappro- priate behaviour towards women.
An SNP investigation identified “persistent” behaviour by McDonald including inappropriate and unwanted text messages, unwanted attention and exploiting his position of power.
He quit as childcare minister when the allegations emerged last November and later apologised for his behaviour towards two women. Dornan objected to McDonald’s return to work as an independent MSP.
In a statement McDonald said he accepted the findings of the commissioner’s report in relation to the two breaches of the code of conduct. He said the first related to the matter he had resigned and apologised over, the sending of an inappropriate social media message to a female member of staff employed by another MSP.
But he did not accept the message had constituted sexual harassment, releasing a screenshot of the message in question in which he comments about his phone’s autocorrect having changed a word.
McDonald said the report had “disproved or disregarded the overwhelming majority of Dornan’s complaint”.
If MSPs back the committee, it will be the toughest sanction handed down by Holyrood since 1999.
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