JAMES Kelly really is the gift that keeps on giving for his political opponents.
Perhaps a few of you saw the video earlier this month when Derek Mackay absolutely rinsed him and thought: "Well, it can't get any worse."
WATCH: James Kelly gets embarrassed AGAIN by Derek Mackay
Today, the Labour MP has somehow managed to one-up even that, being humiliated once again. And we don't say that lightly.
The final vote on the Scottish Government's tax and spending plans for 2018-19 was going before Holyrood (it has since passed).
One point of contention picked up on by Scottish Labour's shadow finance secretary was the workplace parking levy.
As always with the Labour MSP, we really would recommend watching the video for the full experience.
Scottish Labour's James Kelly cruelly exposed over workplace parking. Another clip you won't see on BBC Scotland.https://t.co/zcUKEKVATF
— Indyref2 (@IndyrefTWO) February 21, 2019
Kelly went on the attack: “One of the changes from the first stage of the Budget was the introduction of the proposal for the workplace parking levy. This is clearly a flawed proposal. First of all, in no way…"
He tailed off, accepting an intervention from Green MSP John Finnie. He'll be wishing he hadn't.
Finnie asked: "Was it a flawed policy when his colleagues promoted it in both their Glasgow and Edinburgh local authority election manifestos?"
Kelly's processor seemed to crash at that point, as he slowly realised that he didn't have an answer to the question.
Instead, he entirely avoided the question: "As the Unite and GMB trade unions have pointed out in recent days..."
Holyrood broke out in laughter, but he continued: "… any … any tax, any tax that imposes ... any proposal that imposes a tax on workers as they take their car to work is an unfair tax, and it will be opposed… and it will be opposed. It will be opposed."
Nicola Sturgeon stood up to intervene. "No thank you, no thank you," the Labour MSP said. But, evidently a generous soul, he relented: "On you go."
The First Minister said: "James Kelly didn’t answer John Finnie’s question. I wonder if he will do so now. If it’s such a bad policy why did Labour propose it in their manifestos in Edinburgh and in Glasgow? It’s a simple question, let’s have an answer.”
James Kelly, why did you take that intervention from the First Minister? What good did you think would come of it?
He had to awkwardly avoid the question once again: "As the First Minister will be aware, your government has carried out no – your government has carried out no economic assessment of this policy…"
The fact this is the best shadow finance secretary Scottish Labour can muster really does speak volumes.
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